The Sword
by Nature9000
Summary: Roy is abducted by a treasure hunter who believes he knows where a certain weapon is. With no one else to turn to, Riza must save Roy, Ed, Havoc and Winry from being tortured. Royai, R&R and flames not needed
1. The Sword

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I really don't. If I did then I can tell you this, I'd know how it would end and I'd have completed the entire story by now.

A/N: This begins in the past, Roy's past. He is 12 years old.

* * *

Chapter 1 (The Sword)

Roy woke up at three, he had been tired and had decided to take a nap. He yawned and looked at the clock with wide eyes, "Oh no, I'm late! She'll kill me!" Roy quickly shot up and found his jacket, he put his jacket on and turned to see Astor and Riza Hawkeye.

"Who is 'she'?" Riza asked.

"Where are you going?" Astor asked as he raised his eyebrow. "Have you read up on intermediate alchemy already?"

"I'm sorry teacher, I have plans to visit a friend of mine today, we're supposed to explore this cave," Roy said quietly. "In response to your answer, yes I have read up and if I'm late then my friend will kill me!"

"Your friend is who?"

"Brenda Leona, she is fifteen years old right now."

"Oh, Brenda you say…That friend of yours that you knew from school a few years back?"

"Yes, I still know her to this day. She's one of my closest friends."

"She is your closest friend?" Riza asked as she crossed her arms and sighed.

"No, you're my closest friend but Brenda is scary when she gets angry…I can't be late."

"Okay…I was hoping you and I could talk about some things over some cookies that I made."

"Well we can still talk and I would love to try your cookies!"

"Okay, hold on one second then!" Riza quickly rushed into the kitchen and came out with a bag of cookies that she made. "Here, I hope you will enjoy these." Roy smiled and took the bag in his hand. He quickly hugged Riza in thanks.

"I'll be back later; if I don't hurry then I'll be spending my life as a pile as a cut up piece of ash." Riza and Astor chuckled as Roy ran out of the home. Roy hurried to Brenda's home and knocked on the door, her youngest sister Salacia opened the door. "Hello Salacia, how are you?"

"What do you want?" Salacia had a black eye and a bloody lip, it appeared that her father had hit her once more. Salacia was only twelve years old, she didn't deserve to be hit by her father, she was even picked on at school.

"I was hoping that your sister was in…Are you alright Salacia?"

"You don't want Avani or Mesi do you?" Mesi was one year older than Salacia and on her school's cheerleading squad. Avani was two years older and was just an average student, though she was popular as well. Brenda was not very popular in her school however she was respected for her flame alchemy and her sword skills.

"Salacia, who hit you this time?" Roy crossed his arms and sighed, he couldn't understand this family at all. The only people he had any respect for were Brenda and Salacia. Brenda was his closest friend, Salacia was just her sister but Roy still felt sympathy toward Salacia. He didn't get along well at all with Mesi or Avani; he didn't like their adopted brother, Feng at all either. Feng was almost as bad as his father and he was only fourteen. Their mother did nothing at all and just didn't care about anything that happened in the home.

"Roy Mustang, why the hell are you so damn late!" Brenda shouted as she appeared in the door. "You are lucky I don't fry your late butt!" Brenda sighed and shook her head. Her angry face took a softened tone, "Dad and Feng attacked poor Salacia earlier today. Dad had a little too much to drink and Feng just wanted to join in."

"Brenda, are you leaving?" Salacia asked with wide eyes. Brenda smiled and gave Salacia a hug.

"Don't worry Salacia; Dad should not be home for the rest of the day. Mesi's at cheerleading practice and Avani's with a friend, nobody will be picking on you."

"Mom sleeps all the time…I won't be able to do anything."

"Sure you will, play around with your alchemy some if you want. Roy and I will be finished in a few hours and I'll come back before dad."

"Okay, I hope you have fun Brenda!"

"I will, and you should try to rest." Salacia closed the door as Brenda stepped outside with a sigh. "She's the oddball of the family, everyone hurts her. I don't know why people don't like her…"

"She's a very nice girl," Roy said as he crossed his arms. "Surely it can't be because of her alchemy."

"Right now she can only do basic water alchemy…Yet people don't make fun of her because of her alchemy. Remember, Mesi can perform some but very little flame alchemy. Feng can do some wind alchemy and Avani is good at earth alchemy. If Salacia was picked on for her alchemy then all of us would be in trouble…"

"Yeah…Well I'm sorry I'm late, I studied so much that I fell asleep."

"It happens, don't worry about it Roy. Just don't do it again."

"I'll try, so where is this cave?"

"Down the road from here." They walked down the street and saw Brenda's neighbors in the yard. "Hello Mr. Rockbell!"

"Hello there, Brenda, how are you?"

"Not bad. Could you and Mrs. Rockbell watch the house? If dad returns home then make sure to get Salacia out of that house." Sara Rockbell stepped out of the house with a frown on her face.

"You really should turn that man in," Sara said with a frown.

"We've tried but the police don't do anything at all."

"You should be careful; I've heard that kids that are constantly picked on have a tendency to lash out against those who pick on them and those who try to defend their enemies."

"Oh, don't worry; I don't think that will happen." Brenda smiled and continued down the road. "I'm thankful it's warm today, Roy. I hate the cold."

"Why?"

"I can't perform my alchemy during the cold."

"You have your sword." Brenda looked down at the scabbard that held her sword and sighed.

"Yeah, and as much as I train with it…It is broken now."

"It broke?"

"Yes. Some idiot in my swordfight class decided to break my sword…" Brenda unsheathed her broken sword and frowned. "I _hate_ this…I've never had a broken sword before!"

"Yeah…As often as I've trained with you, you've never broken a sword!" Roy chuckled slightly only to receive a glare from Brenda.

"What is so damn funny!"

"Nothing…You just love swords so much that you take extreme care of the ones you own. It is slightly amusing to find that one of your swords has been broken…Though it's not a good thing, are you going to try to find a new sword?"

"Of course I am! Damn, you know I'm nothing without my sword! You're the one losing the swords I give you, so don't talk to me about one broken sword!"

"You should start a collection of swords…like Salacia likes collecting artifacts and stuff."

"Yeah…and that is unfortunately the reason she's picked on by her peers. She tends to want to collect the weirdest things that she has no use for…"

"Yeah, that's unfortunate." Roy looked over and saw the entrance to a cave. "Is that the cave you spotted?"

"Yes! That's the cave, let's go in and search around. I think there is a hidden field inside and I want to find it."

"Alright, and you've been inside of it before?"

"Only once, there aren't any bats so don't be afraid or anything, Roy." Brenda let out a smirk and Roy growled.

"I don't get afraid of anything, Brenda. Since you're without your sword, I would think _you'd_ be afraid." Brenda narrowed her eyes and looked at Roy.

"I'm not defenseless without my sword you know…I do have my flame alchemy…Do you _want_ me to fry your sorry butt?"

"Sorry I mentioned that…" Roy and Brenda walked into the dark cave and Sunna took out her broken sword and used her flame alchemy to light the blade on fire and lit the cave. "I don't think I can do that…"

"You can, you just have to have a transmutation circle..."

"Right...You know, I've heard of this powerful sword in my studies. It's compatible best with Flame Alchemy and other elemental alchemy."

"I can't do any of the other elements, and believe me I've tried. I am not capable of other elements."

"Well either way it's still good with flame alchemy. Also the sword is supposed to be the hardest sword and can slice through anything!"

"I see…That's a damn good sword right there."

"Yeah, it was once owned by a flame alchemist and it was lost in battle…"

"Why have I not heard of this sword and you have? That's not fair!"

"I don't know. You're the one that told me I should study up on swords and I did." They continued walking through several narrow passageways in the cave until they saw a light at the end. "Is that the exit?"

"No Roy, the light you see there is merely an illusion," Brenda stated with sarcasm in her voice. "Yeah I think it's an exit, either that or the hidden field inside the cave." They walked out and saw a large amount of grass surrounded by long hard walls. "It _is_ the hidden field!" There in the middle of the field was a lake that glistened beautifully and was surrounded by rocks.

"There's one spot in that lake that seems to shine brighter than the rest."

"Yeah…" Roy ran over and looked into the lake. "Be careful, those rocks are…" Roy shouted as he slipped on the rocks and fell into the lake. "Slippery, no, Roy! Damn it!" Brenda ran over to the lake and looked in, it appeared that the lake. "Crap, can he swim?" Brenda jumped into the lake and felt a current pulling her in. "_No wonder he can't surface, the current is pulling him under,_" Brenda thought. She saw Roy's black hair and saw him struggling to swim upwards. "_Crap!_" Brenda reached forward and grabbed Roy's shirt, she turned and struggled to swim against the current. She saw something sticking out of the wall and grabbed it with her hand. "I just need to grab this so I can see whether we're closer to the surface or the hole at the bottom of this lake…" Brenda looked down and saw the hole clearly and looked upwards, the current must have sucked them quickly twenty feet under. She thought she heard a watery crack and noticed the object she was clinging to break from the wall. "_Crap!_" She felt herself and Roy pulled into the hole. She decided to try and swim with the current in hopes that they could manage to find an exit if there was one. She was not sure how long she had been under or how long she managed to hold her breath for but she felt herself starting to lose consciousness as she saw an exit at the far end of the tunnel. She fought to stay awake and quickly swam out of the long tunnel and into a wide open area. She found the surface of a lake and took a big breath as she and Roy reached the air. "Damn it…My lungs feel like they're on fire…" She pulled Roy over to where there was some land, "Roy, are you okay? You better be alive damn it! I'm not having your death over my head and I'm not going to be the one to explain to your teacher and Riza what the hell happened to you!" Roy wasn't breathing so Brenda decided to try CPR and eventually Roy coughed up some water.

"Why do I have a headache?"

"Damn it Roy…next time you decide to go look at a lake, make sure there are no slippery areas!"

"Sorry…" Roy sat up and sighed. "Where are we?"

"At the end of some long tunnel…I would imagine this is Risembool's park and I don't know how the hell I managed to survive all of that water. I'll be damned if I ever decide to go swimming after this…"

"Sorry again."

"Oh shut up…We should return home, everyone will be wondering why we're soaked." Roy noticed the object lying next to Brenda and smiled.

"Hey, you have a new sword!" Brenda looked over and smiled as she picked up the sword.

"Yeah, I didn't actually notice this because of the danger we were in, but yeah…I do have a cool sword. It has a nice design on the handle of it." Roy examined the sword with wide eyes.

"Brenda…"

"What?"

"Look at those designs on the handle!"

"Yeah, so what?"

"I've read about them somewhere…I think this may be the sword that we talked about earlier!"

"What are you talking about, that sword was lost forever."

"Were did you find this sword, Brenda?"

"I guess inside that dammed lake…I grabbed the object when it was in the wall and it came out of the wall."

"How strong was the wall?"

"The current was fast and strong…I guess our combined weight made the wall shatter and cause this to come out."

"So that sword didn't slip right out?"

"No…The rock wall broke…"

"Wouldn't the sword have broken in this case?"

"Yeah…Probably…"

"Try to light it with a flame."

"Are you nuts? It's still wet!"

"Well it's not raining and unless it's raining then that famous sword can't use its flame. However if it or the user or even both are wet and that's all, it can still use its flame!"

"Oh alright…I will humor you. I'm telling you that like all my other swords it will not work." Brenda noticed the transmutation circles on the sword and she raised her eyebrow. "I guess I don't have to draw them…They're already crafted into the handle…They are a flame circle as well…nice, I wonder who made it."

"Even more proof…"

"Shut up and let me see what happens, but I'm telling you that nothing is going to happen." She used her alchemy and watched as flames grew from the sword. Her eyes widened as she watched the burning sword. "Whoa…I didn't think that was…"

"I told you, this is _the sword!_"

"Okay, fine you proved it…we found the lost sword. Don't tell anyone though."

"Oh don't worry, I won't. At least you know one thing; you don't have to worry about another broken sword again!" Roy stifled a laugh and Brenda narrowed her eyes.

"You should get something out of this rather than narrowly escaping death…I know! How about I give you the broken sword?"

"You're mean…"

"You haven't seen mean until you've seen my dad and other siblings…Maybe one day they will come around. I hope Mrs. Rockbell is wrong and things can change before it becomes too late for anything to change."

"Yeah…I hope so too…I hope you can find some way to help Salacia." Roy and Brenda looked down to the ground and sighed. Brenda stood up and replaced the broken sword with her new sword.

"One day…One day things will change and be better for Salacia! I'm sure of it!"

* * *

There's the first chapter and I know what you're thinking, but there will _never_ be any romance between Roy and Brenda, they are only friends and that's it 


	2. Salacia goes bad

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I really don't. If I did then I can tell you this, I'd know how it would end and I'd have completed the entire story by now.

A/N: This is still in the past, Roy's past. He is 13 years old. Also the last chapter in the past

* * *

Chapter 2 (Salacia turns bad)

Salacia frowned as she lay in her bed, Brenda was going to spend the whole day training at some sword and alchemy school, "I don't care if she wants to teach there…Why can't she stay here with me? I don't like being alone." Salacia buried her head in her knees, "I'm going to die here…" Salacia frowned and walked outside of her room.

"Oh, look, its little Salacia," Avani said with a smirk. "You should cut your curly hair, when it goes down to the middle of your back it makes you look uglier than you really are!"

"Shut up…"

"You're not trying to talk back to me, are you? I'm giving you advice."

"Just shut the hell up!"

"Sorry, I can't hear anything other than a shrill sounding voice…" Avani saw Feng walk out of his bedroom and scowl at Salacia, Mesi walked out of her room and watched Feng.

"Feng, leave the…runt…alone will you?" Mesi asked. She knew she was guilty of picking on Salacia but she didn't really like it. She wished she could be like Brenda and not be afraid of what her other siblings would think of her.

"Why the hell are you staring at me, Feng?" Salacia asked.

"I see a face that isn't as ugly as it should be, that's why," Feng said with a scowl. Avani crossed her arms and Mesi looked away as Feng punched Salacia in the face.

"Ouch! Feng, why did you do that! Why do you always hurt me!"

"I do it because you're so goddamn pathetic, that's why!"

"Damn it Feng, just for once couldn't you leave the brat alone?" Mesi asked. She regretted calling Salacia a brat but if she didn't then Feng would hit her. Feng and Avani didn't like their younger siblings and they themselves didn't like Brenda. It wasn't that they didn't like her, they were nervous about her use of flame alchemy and the fact that she was older than they were.

"I think I can do what I want…Don't you have cheerleading practice?"

"Yeah…"

"I have to go to school now," Avani said as she walked off. Feng kicked Salacia in the gut before walking away. Mesi looked to Salacia with sympathy; she saw the tears in Salacia's eyes and walked over to her. She knew she was probably not liked by Salacia because she picked on her. Of course that was only when Feng or Avani was around.

"Maybe Brenda should be here," Mesi thought quietly. She winced when she saw Salacia look at her with pure hatred in her eyes. Mesi looked up and saw her father walk into the room. "Dad…Shouldn't you be at work?"

"No, my boss gave me the day off. You should go to school now." Mesi groaned inwardly, Salacia didn't go to school, she wasn't allowed anymore. The kids picked on her too much and she was constantly abused. Mesi sighed as she turned and walked away. Salacia pushed herself up and walked out of the house and clenched her fists.

"Did they hurt you again, Salacia?" A voice asked. Salacia looked up and smiled when she saw Raven Hawkeye standing above her. He was the brother to Astor Hawkeye and Salacia made good friends with him. "It's okay Salacia; you don't deserve the treatment they give you." Raven gave Salacia a hug. "I wish I could take you in and take care of you."

"Why can't you do that?"

"I can't because you still have a family."

"I hate them though!"

"That's understandable…they all hate you too, it's a cruel family to live in." Raven sat down next to Salacia and sighed. "The only possible release would be if they disappeared I suppose, but that's impossible. There is no way to disappear."

"What about your shadow alchemy?"

"My dark alchemy…No, I couldn't do that, I've never been much of a fighter."

"Aren't you part…whatever it's called?"

"You mean part Homunculus? Yes…As you should know about me, I am half homunculus and half human. I was of course experimented on by this town's damned military and now my insides are nothing but darkness."

"So you can't die then!"

"Oh no, I can die. If my body is completely mutilated or melted then and the darkness leaves, then I can die. Or if there I drink alcohol it renders my shadows useless and I can be killed by any special alchemic attack…I hear your father was trying to do me away."

"What! He can't do that, it's not fair!"

"The world is a cruel place, my child," Raven said quietly. Salacia growled and clenched her fists as she stood up.

"I hate them! I hate them all! They always mistreat me, they always hurt me! They will pay; I'm going to teach those bastards a lesson!"

"Oh, I hope I didn't cause this anger in you…"

"Mr. Hawkeye, can I live with you?"

"I have a house next to me but you can't move out of your home while your family is around. That would be like kidnapping you and I couldn't do that."

"Oh, don't worry about that, everything will be fine." Salacia and Raven looked over to see Roy walking by. Raven scowled, he hated Roy and he didn't like Riza or his brother. It wasn't like he could do anything about them though.

"Hello Salacia," Roy said. He frowned when he saw the bruise on her face. "They hurt you again?"

"Mustang, could you leave," Raven said as he crossed his arms. "Salacia's had a rough day." Raven grabbed Roy's arm and dragged him away. "Salacia, I hope you have a wonderful and splendid day. Have some fun with that water of yours!" Salacia grinned a dark grin and nodded.

---------------

"Okay Girls, let's do form number four!" Mesi said quickly. She was the lead of her cheer squad; she loved cheerleading and hoped to be a professional cheerleader one day. The girls performed the triangle but the form was a little shaky. After that Mesi took a towel and wiped the sweat off her face, "Megan, come here."

"Yes?" One of the girls walked over to Mesi. "I'm sorry that I shook everyone…"

"Is there something wrong, Megan? You've been down all day." Mesi crossed her arms as Megan frowned.

"I'm sorry…I've been having a bad day…bad nightmares lately…"

"Oh…Is there anything I can do about that? Do you want to tell me about them?" Megan shrugged as she and Mesi sat down on a bench.

"It's weird but every time I have these nightmares…they involve water…"

"You say water?"

"Yes…I'm always swimming and then I'm drowning and in these dreams I see dead bodies floating. I don't know what they mean…Then I see my best friend, you, losing all of the water inside of you and you're dying…from dehydration…"

"Oh…I'm not sure what to tell you about those dreams. I'm not sure how to help you out, just try to think of good things Megan. How about you take a break from cheer squad until things are better." The girls screamed and Mesi looked up to see Salacia kick the doors in. Mesi stood up and crossed her arms. "Salacia, what are you doing!" Salacia clasped her hands together and Mesi's eyes widened as each of the girls had a spike driven through their chests, "Salacia!" Salacia glared at Mesi and water was sent toward her.

"No, Mesi!" Megan jumped in the way and the water went down her throat. Soon Megan fell to the floor, her eyes cloudy. Mesi stared and watched as Salacia walked toward her.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm ending your life, I've chosen this path and it's the favorable path!"

"Wait…I'm sorry!"

"You're one of them!" Salacia sent water spikes toward Mesi. Mesi quickly clasped her hands together and shot flames up in front of herself.

"I'm sorry!"

"Sorry won't change anything!" Mesi soon found herself drenched with water, she could no longer use her alchemy. Mesi looked over with fear as Salacia walked toward her and clasped her hands together.

"No!" Mesi found water leaving her body rapidly. "No! Please, I never wanted to hurt you Salacia! Please, I wanted to do something!"

"You should have stuck up for me…You shouldn't have cared about Feng or Avani…They will die too…"

"No!" Mesi lost all her body water and collapsed to the ground. Soon she would die from thirst and dehydration.

-----------------

"Brenda, you have a call from school," The teacher said. Brenda smiled and answered it.

"This is the school principal, I couldn't reach your house…I'm afraid your sister, Mesi, has been found dead…Dehydration seems like a probable cause…However there was water everywhere…"

"What!" Brenda exclaimed as her eyes widened. She hung up the phone. "Tell me this isn't Salacia's doing…"

----------------

Salacia walked into the bedroom where her mom was taking a bath, "Hello mother."

"Salacia, what are you doing in here!" Her mom exclaimed. "Leave now, I'm taking a bath."

"You never loved me, you never cared…For that, you will die."

"What?" Soon the bath water pulled Salacia's mother in the bath and held her under causing her to drown. "I met a friend a year ago and he told me that the only way for me to be free is if you are gone…" Salacia walked into another bathroom and found her dad taking a shower. "This is for all the pain you've caused me!" Salacia clasped her hands together causing the shower water to turn to needle like blades. She heard her father scream as the water blades pierced his face and body. Salacia walked out into the living room to find Avani looking at her.

"Salacia, what's happening? Why were mom and dad screaming, do you know!"

"They're dead, and so will you be, Avani."

"What?" Avani's eyes widened and she let out an ear piercing scream as multiple water spikes pierced her. She fell to the ground and lay in a pool of blood. Salacia grabbed a large book from the table and found Feng in the backyard; she quickly slammed the book against his head and knocked him out. When he awoke he found himself tied up to a tree.

"Salacia, did you do this?" Feng said with a growl.

"You aren't even my real brother," Salacia stated. "You're just some bastard that was adopted…To answer your stupid question I will give you the obvious answer…yes, I did this to you. That's not all I'm going to do to you either!"

"What the hell!" Salacia clasped her hands together and sent water down Feng's throat.

---------------

"Salacia!" Brenda exclaimed as she stepped on the front lawn. "Are you here?" Brenda walked into the open door and gasped as she saw Avani's body in a pool of blood and water. "Avani!" Brenda quickly drew her sword and began to walk through the house, she looked into a bathroom and saw the top of her mom's head visible from the bath tub. "Mom…" Brenda closed her eyes and groaned as she walked into the other bathroom. She saw the shower door open and heard the shower running. When she looked in she saw her father's body against the wall with blood splattered everywhere. "Dad?" Brenda walked through the rest of the house until she exited out the back door where she found Salacia drowning Feng. "Salacia?" Brenda's voice and arm was shaking as Salacia turned and smiled.

"Brenda, I saved us! I killed the ones who mistreated us!"

"Salacia…how could you?" Brenda had felt the anger rising through her. "Why did you kill them? What reason Salacia, tell me!"

"Freedom, my friend told me it was the only way to be free."

"No it wasn't…Salacia, I will forgive you for this massacre…Just don't kill anymore, please."

"No, you and I can live with Mr. Raven Hawkeye."

"No, I can't let you do that, you can live with me. I'm going to teach the school I'm at and you can live there with me."

"No, Mr. Hawkeye is fine; he's part homunculus so he's safe."

"Raven Hawkeye is a criminal, Salacia. He's a well known criminal and Homunculi are evil. They are the result of a human transmutation."

"I don't believe you."

"Salacia, please understand, I won't let you correspond with you, he's evil and he will corrupt you…If he hasn't already."

"Damn you! You're on their side aren't you?"

"What!"

"You are! I trusted you!"

"Crap!" Brenda brought her sword up and blocked a blast of water. "Salacia, you cut that out!"

"You don't like Raven, so you must be against me! I thought you would support whatever I wanted, boy was I wrong! I despise not having what I want!"

"Salacia…Stop this before you make me angry…You know I can't fight you."

"That's why I will kill you. Mesi tried to bring up flames to strike me with and failed."

"So you did kill her…I don't want to believe this…I know I can open your eyes one day, but until then…God I hate having to do this but you must be disciplined. I cannot allow you to kill me right now, I won't fight you but I will stop you!" Salacia and Brenda charged for each other, Brenda felt water spikes shoot through her arm and Brenda tried to think of a way to stop her. She figured if she could make Salacia run then Salacia would tire out. Brenda was already angry enough as it was, she knew she couldn't use her alchemy because she wouldn't be able to control what happened.

"Please stop this Salacia, stop this now!"

"Hell no, I'm going to kill you like the others! Mr. Hawkeye was right, nobody in the family seemed to really care about me."

"Why the hell are you listening to him and not me!" Brenda's anger flared and fire lit up on her sword. Her vision blurred slightly because of her anger and she couldn't tell the distance she was from her sister. "As punishment for your murders I will give you a scar…I hate to do this to you but it has to be done." Brenda slashed her sword to avoid a water attack and didn't realize that she hit Salacia as well. When she saw Salacia, she had a large cut from the top of her face going diagonally to her chin.

"You hit me! I'll kill you!" Salacia quickly hit the sword out of Brenda's hands and then drenched Brenda with water. Brenda was still recovering from the shock and shook her head. She started to go toward the sword when a giant spike shot through her chest. "Now you'll have a scar…I'm sorry, you'll be dead!" Brenda fell to the ground as Salacia walked off. Brenda lay there with her eyes opened for the next few seconds before pushing herself up. She was bleeding profusely and needed help immediately. She grabbed her sword and coughed up some blood. Brenda wasn't sure how she managed to get to her neighbor's home without passing out but when she did it was Mrs. Rockbell that came to the door. Brenda then collapsed into Sara's arms from blood loss.

"Oh my god, Brenda!" Sara exclaimed. The male Dr. Rockbell rushed in and both he and his wife brought Brenda in.

"We can save her," Dr. Rockbell said, "But we need to work fast! She's lost a lot of blood!"

"I'll get the tools from your office!" Sara exclaimed. Sara ran off and quickly returned with the tools necessary. Together they cleaned up all the blood and cleaned the wound. "How much do you think she's lost?"

"Quite a bit, but thankfully she managed to get here before losing enough that she would require a transfusion. She will be pretty weak though and that's going to leave a nasty scar on her body for the rest of her life…Her front chest and upper back…I wonder what happened."

"Maybe she can explain that when she wakes up."

* * *

There's the second, I added both past chapters in one because I felt it was neccessary 


	3. Dante and Gluttony, murdered?

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I really don't. If I did then I can tell you this, I'd know how it would end and I'd have completed the entire story by now.

A/N: This is now in the present time. Roy is 30 and Riza is 29.

* * *

Chapter 3 (Dante and Gluttony are murdered)

Roy smiled as he read the letter from his friend, he and Brenda corresponded from day to day. He heard what happened with Salacia and that she vanished shortly after that time. Brenda had begun to teach basic sword skills and the art of Flame Alchemy. Roy himself had gone to her school and gave a lecture on Flame Alchemy. Brenda had always been saddened by that experience, of course what person would be the same after seeing what happened. Brenda was tough though, she could manage, she always focused her pain and anger in her training. Roy looked up as Riza walked into the room, Havoc was starting to fall asleep at his desk. "How are you today Lieutenant?"

"Not bad, sir," Riza said as she sat at her desk. "Is that the letter from that friend of yours?"

"Yes." Havoc sighed as he looked over at Roy.

"You couldn't possibly let me have a vacation like you did for the others?" Havoc asked.

"Only Falman and Breda are on vacation. Well, Falman is anyway…They're on a cruise for a month and Breda is investigating something. You, like Lieutenant Hawkeye, never even bother putting in for vacation time." Roy crossed his arms and sighed. "I don't even know how many days of vacation time that you can possibly take off now!"

"I lost count a few years ago…"

"Yeah, well I'm glad my two best bodyguards can feel the need to stay here and not use any vacation time," Roy said with a smirk. "I would feel lonely if you two weren't here."

"I hope Fuery's mom starts feeling better so he can come back to work…"

"Maria and Denny are on a honeymoon," Riza said quietly. "That just leaves us then…"

"Well, there is Fullmetal," Roy said. He then smirked and leaned back in his char. "Perhaps we should call him up and give him a hard time."

"You have paperwork to do, sir."

"Ah, you're cruel…What use is there in doing paperwork for a homunculus anyway?"

"You want to become the Fuhrer, right?"

"Yes."

"Then do your paperwork."

"Yeah, I am…" Roy chuckled as he took out his pen. That was one of the many things he loved about Riza, her urgency for him to get things done. She was stern but gentle at the same time. It was interesting, a woman who could be hard and soft at the same time. He couldn't remember when he first fell in love with her. He loved the smell of her hair and the beautiful well-toned body that she had.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have something on my face?"

"No, he's just in love with you," Havoc said with a smirk.

"Lieutenant Havoc!" Roy and Riza exclaimed.

"It is strictly a platonic relationship," Riza said quickly. She quickly pulled out some of her paperwork and began reading it in an attempt to hide the blush on her face.

"Exactly, there is nothing more than that," Roy said quietly. His face was red as well. Havoc sighed and shook his head.

"Whatever you say," Havoc said quietly. It was quite obvious to him, as long as he's known both Roy and Riza, they always seemed to be very romantically attracted to each other. They just had a hard time admitting it to each other. Riza looked over at Roy and sighed.

"_I do love him,_" Riza thought to herself. She couldn't get enough of him to be perfectly honest and she knew she could never stand to tear herself away from him.

---------------

"So your girlfriend is still following that guy around?" Frank Archer asked to Kimblee.

"Yes, He is a good person," Kimblee said as he crossed his arms. "He's taken care of her since she was thirteen years of age when she lost her entire family."

"I thought she killed them?"

"Not so loud!"

"Sorry…"

"Are you still trying to flirt around with Riza?"

"Why wouldn't I, you've seen her." Kimblee sighed and shook his head.

"Yes, pretty much everybody's seen her…"

"Then you know how gorgeous she is."

"Yeah, but she likes Colonel Mustang I think."

"Whatever."

"We should go to the lair, Salacia probably wants to talk to us or something." Kimblee looked over and saw Edward reading a book. "Always reading something…"

"Yeah."

"I hear he's reading up on some stupid sword. He probably knows everything about it by now…"

"Perhaps he has use for it."

"Yeah, but of course I doubt that."

----------------

"Okay Gluttony, we may just find it here," Dante said with a smirk. Dante and Gluttony walked into a cave in the ruins of Ishbal. "Stay close, this is a big place."

"Okay…Why didn't the other homunculi come with us?" Gluttony asked with childlike innocence.

"They didn't need to."

"Oh." Dante and Glutton walked through the corridors of the cave until they came to a door.

"Why is there a door here?" Dante opened the door and walked inside. Inside was a huge room and it appeared like a house inside of a cave, "What the hell is all of this?"

"Who the hell are you?" A voice asked. Dante and Gluttony turned to see Raven, Salacia and Kimblee standing a few feet away.

"I'm Dante, and this is Gluttony."

"Okay, so why are you here?" Raven asked as he glared at Dante. "Do you have a reason for being here?"

"We're searching for something, but…that's not for you to know."

"Why would what you're looking for be here?"

"I heard it was lost in a cave…"

"What item is that?" Salacia asked. She didn't care that Dante said it wasn't her business. "I want to know, and you should always let me have and know what I want to know. If you don't, then I get mean."

"Whatever, we'll just be on our way." Dante and Gluttony walked to the door but stopped when water shot from the ground as well as a dark shadow. Dante looked over at Raven and Salacia and frowned.

"I'm telling you that I want to know."

"We're looking for a sword," Gluttony said. "A rare and priceless sword that is so hard, it can slice through anything. It could be owned by a flame alchemist but we're not sure."

"Gluttony, what the hell!" Dante exclaimed. "You're not supposed to tell them!"

"Really, I love collecting things," Salacia said with a smile. "This is great!"

"Well, we will be finding it. You won't be getting anything."

"I'm afraid that's not going to be the case."

"So you're the leader of the homunculi?" Raven asked with a smirk. "You don't seem to be bossing me around, but then again I don't follow anybody." Dante scowled as she stood in place, she pointed to Raven and Salacia.

"Attack them now, Gluttony!" Dante exclaimed. Gluttony charged toward them only to be blown back by a wave of water.

"I'll deal with the fat bastard," Salacia said quietly.

"Okay, that's fine by me," Raven said as he crossed his arms.

"Homunculi can't perform alchemy," Dante said with a frown.

"I'm half homunculus. I was experimented on by the military and they injected me with my own alchemy. Thus my insides have been replaced by darkness and I've retained my use for alchemy. It's really more of my homunculus ability now than my alchemy. If you can brighten things up and make the darkness vanish, thus rendering me immobile, give me alcohol thus making me unable to use alchemy or completely tear my body apart and free all the blackness inside of me then you won't be killing me very easily."

"I take it you don't usually spout your secret to others?"

"Not often, if I tell someone then it's because I'm going to kill them."

"You sound so confident."

"I am confident."

"That will be your downfall."

"Not quite. So do you want a shadowy spike to go through you, poisoned by the shadows, crushed by the shadows or absorbed into the darkness?"

"So that's all you can do?"

"I can do one other thing. I open up a big black hole and send you into a dark hell where you can't see anything nor can you go hungry or die from old age. You'll wander around in the darkness for all eternity without the use of your sight, hearing, or smell."

"Yet we keep our touch and taste?"

"Yes."

"Then we become deaf and blind…"

"You never will meet another soul and if you do it's probably a demon of the darkness that will devour you."

"How often do you use this?"

"Not often at all. The only way to be released is if a light alchemist can release you."

"I am a light alchemist…There is also Hoenheim of Light."

"Nobody knows where you would go unless they were with you when you were sucked in. Also you could never get yourself out unless you happened to by a very rare miracle stumble on the hidden transmutation circle and use it to bring yourself back."

"A hidden transmutation circle?"

"Yes…I sucked in my school when I was sixteen and one of the students drew a transmutation circle in hopes of countering my effect. He died with his hand on the circle and never countered my power."

"I see and there really is no chance of finding it then…"

"You can't see it or hear it or smell it…It's possible to find it but it's rather difficult."

"Lovely." Dante clasped her hands together and shot an alchemy blast toward Raven. Raven dodged and sent a black spike toward Dante. Dante avoided the spike but was grazed on the arm.

"Nice dodge."

"Same for you."

"Heh." Raven charged toward Dante and punched her in the gut. He then sent shadows to surround her and began to suffocate her. Dante grasped her throat and tried to catch her breath.

"Damn it! I can't…breathe!"

"Of course you can't," Raven said with a smirk. A black shadow blade sliced off one of Dante's arms.

"Crap!"

"Enjoy hell Dante…"

"What!" The shadows vanished and Dante looked down to see a large black circle underneath her. She tried to escape it but couldn't. "No!" Salacia sent Gluttony's cut up body into the circle.

"Nice job Salacia, this means that he won't be able to regenerate when he gets there."

"Right, I know about your black hole," Salacia said with a smirk.

"Not bad you two," Kimblee said with a slight chuckle. "What now?"

"Inform the Fuhrer that the homunculus known as Gluttony and his leader Dante has been killed. Don't tell him who it is because we don't need the reputation of having killed a homunculus on our heads."

"That's understandable…Killing Gluttony and Dante would be considered a_good_ deed."

"Also, I want to find this sword!" Salacia turned to Raven and crossed her arms. "We_will_ be able to get it, right?"

"I suppose it would be fine," Raven said quietly.

"It's owned by a flame alchemist…I think that's what they said."

"Yes."

"Hey, Colonel Mustang is a flame alchemist! Edward Elric was also reading up on the sword earlier," Kimblee stated. "They may know something about the sword and its location, or even have it in their possession!"

"Great job Kimblee, that's why I love you," Salacia said with a smirk. "I just don't like Archer."

"Hey, he may be a womanizer but at least he's never done anything with you…"

"I still don't like him."

--------------

Kimblee walked into Fuhrer Bradley's office with a grin, "Hello Fuhrer sir!" Pride stood up and smiled at Kimblee.

"Is there something that you need?"

"Fuhrer Bradley, I came to report to you that the homunculi threat in Amestris has been dealt a major blow." Pride did not change visibly but inside he was curious as to what the hell Kimblee was talking about. At least Kimblee didn't know that he was a homunculus himself.

"Would you care to explain?"

"I believe their leader is a woman named Dante and there is a homunculi named Gluttony, correct?"

"I wouldn't know, but that sounds familiar."

"Right, well I have seen them die. I did not see their attackers but I saw them die." Sloth looked in from the doorway, her face was visibly shocked as she looked to Pride. Pride did not appear shaken or else he would give away his identity to Kimblee.

"Thank you, that is all, right?"

"Yes sir. Have a good day." Kimblee turned and walked out of the office. Sloth walked in as Pride fell back into his chair.

"Dante…and Gluttony…killed?" Pride asked quietly.

"That's what it sounds like," Sloth said with a frown.

"If we find out who did it…"

"That will be hard to do sir."

"Did you just call me 'sir' and why did you do that?"

"I'm sorry Pride, I'm used to calling you sir…"

"Well, right now I'm in charge of the homunculi and I'm going to have everyone looking for the killers of Dante and Gluttony."

"Do you want me to contact the others?"

"Lust is probably off doing something, I'm not sure where Wrath is and Envy's somewhere…Greed's dead…So if you can find Lust, Wrath and Envy then have them come to my office."

"I will do that s-Pride."

"My god you sound like Lieutenant Hawkeye…" Sloth rolled her eyes and sighed as she walked out of the door. Pride let out a frustrated sigh as he turned his chair so he could look out the window.

"Why the hell does he always compare me to her?" Sloth asked herself. "It doesn't matter, I'm going to have to contact the others now."

-----------------

Havoc narrowed his eyes as Archer walked into the office and smoothly ran a hand through his hair, "Do you need something, Archer?" Havoc asked.

"Is Riza in?" Archer asked.

"You mean Lieutenant Hawkeye?" Havoc asked as she slowly stood up and walked over to Archer. "I'm sorry but right now she is not in the office, she's somewhere else on business." Archer narrowed his eyes and groaned.

"Can you tell her that I was here?"

"Hell no, she doesn't like you and personally I don't like you either."

"You could just say 'yes' and be done with it you know…"

"I'm sorry, but until you can catch a hint, I'll continue keeping you away from her."

"Why do you bother with that anyway, it isn't your business you know."

"She and Roy like each other, she isn't interested in you."

"How do you even know? Those two don't even talk to each other about romantic things."

"I'm pretty sure that doesn't matter and I'm also sure she doesn't want to talk to you."

"You think you're better than me and you can push me around?"

"I never said I was better than you." Havoc crossed his arms and sighed.

"Just because you're a better shot," Archer said under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Do you know where the Colonel is right now?"

"It's a special day right now, he's visiting an old family…"

"What family is that?" Havoc rolled his eyes and groaned.

"That's also none of your business."

"Fine, I don't really care." Archer turned and walked out of the office as Havoc shook his head.

* * *

There's the third, enjoy. 


	4. A day at the cemetery

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I really don't. If I did then I can tell you this, I'd know how it would end and I'd have completed the entire story by now.

A/N: This is now in the present time. Roy is 30 and Riza is 29.

* * *

Chapter 4 (A day at the cemetery)

Riza watched Roy from behind a tree, he walked out of a flower shop carrying numerous amounts of flowers, "Who is he buying flowers for?" Riza thought quietly. Roy sighed as he walked down the street carrying a large vase that held several small vases inside with several silk flowers.

"These will last until next year," Roy said quietly. He walked until he reached the train station where he quit walking. "Riza…do you think you can quit following me now?" Riza's eyes widened as she stepped out from a small alley and saluted Roy.

"I apologize for sneaking around, sir."

"Call me Roy, Riza…"

"Again, I am sorry, sir."

"I just said call me Roy…"

"I am sorry Roy; it's a force of habit. So, who are the flowers for?" Roy looked down at the flowers in his hand and over at the train.

"Come with me Riza, I'll explain on the way there."

"Okay." Roy and Riza walked on the train and sat down in the middle of one train car. "Are you taking those to someone special, Roy?"

"In a way you could say that." Roy sighed and looked up with a frown. "In a way you could say I'm giving them to an old friend of mine."

"Oh…I see."

"I take it you've completed all of your paperwork?"

"Have you?"

"Of course I have. I always complete my work quickly on this day." Riza nodded, she didn't know why but he had always finished his paperwork with incredible amounts of speed on this day every year. Riza stared at the beautiful, but artificial, flowers that Roy held and wondered who they were for. Roy never got her any flowers."

_Now arriving in Risembool_

"Here we are, Riza." Roy stood up and walked off the train with Riza. Riza followed close behind Roy and noticed they were walking toward a cemetery.

"Roy…Do you know anyone buried here?"

"Yes Riza. Do you not remember the incident that occurred in Risembool seventeen years ago?" Riza saw Roy stop at several tombstones.

"A girl killed her entire family and later vanished and was pronounced dead, right?"

"Yes." Roy looked down at the grave of Salacia Leona and frowned. "She was a girl with deep emotional trauma. She only needed help…Her family wasn't very good to her and in return she killed them." Roy took out on vase and set the flower on her grave.

"So you give her a flower then?"

"You should understand that she was only a girl who didn't travel the right path and she would have killed everyone else she knew probably. In almost an ironic twist of fate…your own uncle saved my life seventeen years ago."

"What?"

"I don't know but I might have been her first victim. On that day, the day she killed her family, Raven was seen talking to her and I walked up to her. She seemed hurt and angry, it was a dark anger that was inside of her though…Raven grabbed me by the arm and pulled me away, I thought I noticed a dark grin on her face that day." Riza nodded and bowed her head sadly.

"An abused child kills her family. It's something that happened quite often…"

"Exactly, and it shouldn't happen. One day Riza, I hope that my children will never know the pain and suffering that Salacia went through. Torture at school because she was different and the only one of her family that wasn't popular, a mother that didn't care about her, and a brother that was almost as bad as her father."

"I should have brought something along if I knew I would be here…"

"You being here is enough to remember this family. It shows proper respect, even though this family was not such a great one." Roy placed flowers on each of the family member's graves and sighed. "It was said that on that day, Salacia's first victim was her sister, Mesi. Mesi was almost like her oldest sister, Brenda but not quite. She feared her brother and other sister's wrath and whenever surrounded by their presence she would say mean things to poor Salacia. Only she never liked it…Mesi was actually kind hearted and didn't deserve to die…Salacia did her an honorable thing though in the end, Mesi didn't die alone."

"She didn't?"

"Mesi died with all of her closest friends that day." By now Riza had tears that threatened to grace her cheeks. She would cry for the family and she could cry for Salacia. She noticed Roy trying his best not to let a single tear fall from his face.

"Her parents died in the bath and the ironic thing is that her father was the one that was in the worst shape of every one of those killed. Avani Leona died because of a spike and Salacia drowned her brother, Feng, even Brenda lost at her hands."

"Brenda Leona, that was one of your friends from back then, I remember you talking about her."

"Yeah, and if you can remember the day that I went on a mini adventure with her to a cave, she saved my life that day and nearly died herself." Riza's eyes widened, she didn't hear about this.

"What happened, Roy, and why didn't I hear about this!"

"I didn't want to worry you back then, Riza. We went into the cave and found a hidden area inside the cave and there was this deep lake with some slippery rocks. I fell in the lake and Brenda jumped in after me…My guess is we were closer to the bottom and there was a long tunnel that led to Risembool's park. Brenda managed to not pass out.

"I'm glad she saved you then, Roy. If you had died that day…"

"Your father would have been upset." Riza nodded and sighed. She would have been upset as well; she didn't know what she would do if something happened to him.

-------------

A woman stepped out the shower and glanced around. She sighed and rubbed the huge scar on her chest, "Damn it…This is the ugliest thing I've ever seen…It's only a reminder though. Damn, if I could have gotten through to her that day." A noise was heard and Brenda clutched the handle of the sword in its scabbard, she always bathed with the sword next to her. Ever since she fought with her sister, she could never be around water without expecting something to happen in which she would need her sword. She almost didn't want to take showers after what she saw happen to her father, she usually took baths and kept her sword next to her but on this day, a shower would have been better. "That's probably one of my students coming into the training facility thinking that I'm giving a lesson today. Of course, I am not giving a lesson today." Brenda dried herself and gazed at the large round scar that covered the bottom of her breasts and reached to her waistline. "Somehow she managed not to destroy my organs…" On her back was another hideous, round scar but only smaller still. She slipped her pants on and placed her shirt over her body. She was thankful that her brown hair reached to her shoulders and covered her neck. She never wore any overly formal dresses though; the 'v' neck dresses were out of question as she was very self conscious about her scar. She stepped out of the room and saw a man that she didn't recognize. He had a scar on his face, it was X shaped. "Who the hell are you and what are you doing on a day that I'm not giving any lessons? I have somewhere to be!"

"Are you Brenda Leona?"

"Yes, now who are you?"

"I go by the name, Scar."

"Okay, well I have to go or I'm going to be late, you don't need to be here right now, this is considered breaking and entering."

"I want to know if you know the state alchemist, Roy Mustang."

"Yes and how should I react to the State Alchemist killer?" Brenda drew her sword and scowled, she knew from her letters with Roy that Scar was the man who wanted to kill him. Scar was the State Alchemist killer. "I've dealt with murderers before."

"Do you defend Mustang?"

"I defend nobody right now. I do want to know why you are here though."

"I could perhaps use you to get to him." Brenda chuckled in response to that and resisted the urge to break out in a full laugh.

"What are you thinking? You'd have better luck getting to him if you used a mouse for crying out loud!"

"I don't understand. You are friends with him, are you not?"

"How would you even know this?"

"I have seen you speak with him on several occasions."

"Oh, I see. So because of this knowledge, you think I'm going to let a murderer try and get through some state alchemist and kill him. I have news for you, if memory serves correct…the Ishbalian war was not because of the state alchemists who were ordered to fight in the war."

"So you defend State Alchemists…"

"No, I defend the innocent lives that murderers like you kill…I don't enjoy having to fight, but if I have to, then I will."

"Then fight me!" Scar charged toward Brenda with an open hand. Brenda dodged the attack and sliced Scar in the back with her sword. "Crap…"

"I may not be good at all with hand to hand combat, but I'm damn good with a sword. You're going to make me late and I really don't want to fight on this day."

"It matters not, those who defend state alchemists are my enemy!"

"I see…So those who defend the lives of the hunted and the prey are the ones who you choose to kill as well?" Scar growled lowly, he had to admit that she made a good point. "Why do you hunt those who are weaker than you? Though they may not be weaker than you yet you still desire their death. I hope Scar that one day you will see the things you have done that blind you from true justice."

"It doesn't matter now, I have already killed too many state alchemists…There would be no way to redeem myself for my crimes." Scar lowered his hands and looked to his right hand. Seeing that Scar had calmed down somewhat and he was probably not much of a threat, Brenda sheathed her sword. She still kept her black ignition gloves on her hands in case Scar decided to attack. She liked the idea of ignition cloth and she got the idea to wear them from Roy.

"When you've had a bad past, it does cloud your vision often. You can still redeem yourself though. I too am scarred…" Scar raised his eyebrow and looked over.

"Where are you scarred?"

"I am not showing you! Damn it…You don't need to know anything about what happened! I have to go visit the cemetery in Risembool where my family lay…I'm late in meeting my friend there as it is. He's probably left on the last train, now I have to hurry up and get on the train." Brenda turned to leave.

"Your family passed on, what happened to them?" Brenda stopped walking and turned her head slightly toward Scar and frowned.

"That happens to be none of your business. I'll tell you this, if you want redemption then it will come the day you remove your grudge and perhaps even save the life of a state alchemist. There you may have redemption for your crimes. If I ever run into you again Scar and I find you slaughtering people…I'll kill you. If I hear about you killing only one state alchemist, I will come to find you Scar and I will personally cut that arm from your body, do not mistake my words." Scar let out a low growl as he watched Brenda leave.

---------------

"Brother, why are you so worked up about a sword?" Al asked.

"It's shrouded with so much mystery, Al!" Ed said quickly. "Why _wouldn't_ I be interested in it? It is an alchemy based sword."

"The books say it works best with flame alchemy though…Plus a flame alchemist owns it."

"I wonder if Mustang knows about it. I wouldn't be surprised if Colonel Bastard owns it himself."

"I've never seen the Colonel with a sword…" Al took the book and read a few lines. "It says here that the owner of the sword chose to remain nameless as the person didn't like the fact that someone else knew about the sword. Apparently someone found out and spilled their guts about it…"

"Yeah, that's pathetic…With a sword like this; you would probably not want people going after it."

"I feel bad for the person, having to worry about possible bounty hunters and stuff."

"As many flame alchemists as there are, then it's safe to assume nobody knows just who owns the sword.

"You know brother, I thought I saw the Colonel and Lieutenant Hawkeye here in Risembool earlier, we should visit them!"

"Why the hell would I want to talk to Mustang for?"

"Maybe you could ask him about the sword…"

"Oh, good point, let's go Al!" Winry walked in the room and sighed.

"Where are you two going?" Winry asked. Al looked over to Winry and would have smiled if it wasn't for the fact that he was an enormous suit of armor.

"We're going to see the Colonel!"

"I thought you guys weren't going back to Central though?" Winry and Al looked over to see that Ed already left. Al sighed and crossed his arms.

"The Colonel is here in Risembool, and we're going to talk to him. I'm sure brother wouldn't mind if you came with us, Winry."

"Oh, well I can do that!" Al and Winry left and found Ed standing at the entrance to the cemetery with his arms crossed.

"What took you so long? Come on before the Colonel leaves!"

"Sorry brother." The three walked through the cemetery and found Roy and Riza standing in silence near some graves.

"Colonel Bastard, how are you?" Roy looked over at Ed with a stern face.

"A little quieter Edward, show some respect in the cemetery," Roy said as he crossed his arms.

"Sorry...So what are you doing here?"

"We were visiting some old friends of Roy's," Riza said quietly.

"Old friends indeed," Roy stated with a frown. "The only ones I ever had any respect in this family were Brenda and Salacia. I never cared much at all for the others."

"Who are they?" Winry asked.

"Brenda Leona was one of my close friends as a child, and still is to this day. Your parents saved her life, Winry."

"They did?"

"Yes. Her youngest sister was always picked on and Salacia slaughtered her family, she nearly killed Brenda but thankfully your parents lived next door to her."

"Oh…That's too bad about Salacia. It's good that Brenda survived though."

"Yes, but she tends to get depressed every now and then. She used to be very carefree back in the day but now she's more serious, more apt to anger and more impatient. I think it's only because she's probably afraid something will happen…So, what are you here for Fullmetal?"

"I wanted to ask you about a sword," Ed said. Roy crossed his arms and turned to look at Ed.

"_What_ sword are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about a very powerful sword that can cut through anything and works best with flame alchemy. I read that when wet it will still light on fire, unless of course it's raining or constantly being hit by water…" Roy's eyes widened and his face turned hard.

"I don't know anything about that sword, Fullmetal. I've never even heard of such a weapon." Roy looked at Riza, "Come on Riza, it's time to take our leave. I was supposed to meet up with Brenda here but it will be fine."

"Okay, have a good day you three," Riza said with a smile as Roy started walking off.

"Come on Riza, let's go." Ed raised his eyebrow and watched as Roy and Riza left.

"What was that all about?" Ed asked quietly.

* * *

There's the fourth chapter, enjoy. let me know what you think! 


	5. The Abductions Begin

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I really don't. If I did then I can tell you this, I'd know how it would end and I'd have completed the entire story by now.

A/N: This is now in the present time. Roy is 30 and Riza is 29.

* * *

Chapter 5 (Abductions begin)

Salacia stared at Archer with her jaw dropped, "Is that all you ever think about!" Salacia exclaimed.

"He is a womanizer you know," Kimblee said with a frown.

"Some best friend you have here, Kimblee!"

"We've known each other some time, and it's like I said, he's never made a move on you yet."

"True, however…he's annoying."

"Why is it that you two talk about me like that when I'm sitting right here?" Archer asked as he crossed his arms over. "All I was saying was that I'd like to capture Hawkeye…"

"Yes, and seduce her." Salacia rolled her eyes and scowled. "You are a chauvinist and a damned womanizer. If it wasn't for Kimblee I would kill you! I'm surprised Raven doesn't kill you himself, he hates having to work with others."

"Yet he works with you."

"He trusts me; I've been with the guy since I was thirteen."

"That alone makes you the most loyal to him. I hear he talked you into slaughtering your entire family."

"Of course he didn't, I killed them all myself."

"It's a pity though that you had to kill your oldest sister," Kimblee said with a sigh. "She was the nicest to you, isn't that what you said?"

"She stabbed me in the back and I have this to remember her by." Salacia pointed to a large burn scar going down her face. "She hit me with her sword and she paid for it with her life."

"Are you three done talking in there?" Raven asked as he stepped in the room with his arms crossed. "It would please me if you went out to catch these people. All we need are Mustang and Elric since it appears they may know about the sword. If there is anybody with them that tries to defend them, then I suggest abducting them as well."

"Okay, we can do that," Kimblee said with a smirk. "Archer of course was considering bringing Hawkeye here in a-" Kimblee was interrupted by a nudge given by Salacia. She leaned forward and whispered in his ear.

"You do realize that as evil as he is, he hates when people talk about his niece like that. Do you want him to slaughter Archer for talking about his niece in a sexual light? Furthermore, he would kill you also because you are Archer's friend."

"He wouldn't hurt you?"

"Hell no, I'm a woman who obviously doesn't care for women and obviously wouldn't talk about his niece in that aspect. You and I know full well that Archer wants to take advantage of Riza Hawkeye and Raven would be pissed."

"Okay, I get your point, can we stop whispering because Raven is sort of creeping me out right now." Salacia and Kimblee looked over to see Raven glaring at them. "I wish he had alcohol in his system so he could blab his every thought to us…"

"I heard that," Raven said as he crossed his arms. "Archer, if you want to abduct my niece then that's fine with me. I would love to see the fear in Mustang's eyes when she is in pain. Her torture would only cause him to be more apt to tell us the location of that sword. You may go after Riza, but mark my words; if you so much as _think_ sexual things toward her then I will tear your body apart."

"I understand...I won't rape your niece!" Archer said quickly. Salacia and Kimblee slapped their hands to their forehead and groaned as Raven glared at Archer. "Sorry, that came out wrong…" Raven started to walk menacingly toward Archer. "Seriously…I didn't mean anything by that!" Raven lifted his hands and Salacia quickly grabbed Raven's arm.

"Don't worry about it," Salacia said with a grin. "I'll be with you to get Roy. He is a flame alchemist so that just means I can render him useless. You know how powerful my water alchemy is, so if Archer tries anything funny then I'll punish him."

"I wasn't going to kill Archer just now," Raven said with a low growl. "I was merely going to injure him."

"Don't worry about it old man," Kimblee said as he patted Raven on the back. Raven raised his eyebrow and growled lightly.

"Why are you calling me old? I'm only fifty five, that's not old!"

"Anyway, Archer is smart enough to know that what he does may effect what you do to me. I'm Salacia's boyfriend so if he assaults Riza in a sexual manner, he knows you will kill me as well. I will make sure that Archer does not touch your precious niece."

"I never said she was precious…I don't really give a damn about her."

"Anyway, Archer will go after Riza and bring her here to tie her up. I suppose I will go after Edward Elric and abduct him."

"Good, it sounds like a good way to go about it. Remember that the next time you call me old, I will kill you."

"Yeah, sorry about that, Raven. What about your daughter?"

"She's on her honeymoon. I don't care about that traitorous child of mine."

"Yeah, she fights with him and changes her name," Salacia said as she shook her head. "Then she leaves and joins the very military that Raven despises. I would kill her for him, but I don't know where she is."

"Yeah…well anyway, let's move out," Kimblee stated with a grin. He accidently clasped his hands together and created an explosion that sent Archer flying out of the cave. "Whoops, I'll go see if he's alright!" Kimblee swiftly rushed out and found Archer pushing himself up. "Frank, you are an idiot!"

"What?" Frank dusted himself off and looked at Kimblee who held an angered look on his face.

"Damn it, do you think you could shut up about Riza for once? At least around her Uncle that can very well rip you apart. He can really screw me up as well just for befriending someone like you and I happen to like the way my face looks. I'd rather not have a spike sent through my head and that's only a slight fraction of what he'd do to _you!"_

"Sorry…"

"Yeah, whatever, although I think it's a bad idea for you to get her, go on and try. Like Raven said, she can easily be used to get Mustang to reveal the location of this damn sword. Do yourself a favor though and shut the hell up about Riza."

"Okay, fine."

----------------

Roy walked through the halls of central HQ and crossed his arms, Riza wasn't with him and he wished she was. Riza was meeting with Ed and Al about something and he would have been able to go but Archer gave him a note from the Fuhrer. He walked into the main area of the Fuhrer's office and Sloth looked up from the desk.

"Colonel Mustang, is there something I can do for you?" Sloth asked as she raised her eyebrow.

"I got a note from Colonel Frank Archer saying that Fuhrer Bradley wanted to see me." Sloth sighed and stood up.

"Sir, unfortunately Fuhrer Bradley is not in right now and has not listed any appointments for today. I do not believe he would be looking for you."

"Are you absolutely sure about that?"

"You said you got a note from Frank Archer?" Sloth raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms. She, like every other woman in Central, knew about Archer's deceiving ways and she wondered why Archer would be handing Roy a fake note from the Fuhrer. Archer never hit on her and for that she was thankful, she did wonder about what Pride would do if he did hit on her though.

"Yes."

"I'm going to have to assume he handed you a fake note."

"Damn…That's what I was thinking, but okay." Roy turned to walk away but stopped and looked back. "Tell me Colonel _Douglas_, have you noticed how eerily silent it is outside of your office? There's literally no one on this floor or my floor which is right below here."

"No, I didn't notice that. Perhaps you should not worry about it."

"Do you know where our Fuhrer is right now?"

"Unfortunately I do not."

"Would he be talking to his leader?" Sloth's eyes widened and she slowly shook her head.

"No. It is believed that his _acquaintance_ has passed on."

"Really now, what exactly did she die of?"

"What makes you so sure it's a woman?"

"The Fuhrer typically surrounds himself with women…" Sloth raised her eyebrow. It made since actually, he used to spend a lot of time working with Dante and he respected Lust to an extent. Sloth herself was his secretary. Of course his closest friend was Envy, and that wasn't a girl.

"The Fuhrer's best friend is a male."

"I didn't think he had any friends." Sloth sighed and sat in her seat.

"He is the Fuhrer, he may be busy but he does have time for friends. I think you should go now. I would say you should wait for him to return but I don't see any benefit for it. I'm going to kindly ask you to leave."

"I'll do that with pleasure." Sloth groaned as Roy left the room. Roy walked down the hall and stopped to see Raven and Salacia standing in front of him.

"Waiting for you to leave that damned office is hell," Raven said quietly.

"As long as it gets you away from where Riza Hawkeye is, then that's fine," Salacia said with a chuckle. She eyed Roy and noticed that he grew very nicely. "Long time no see, Roy."

"Who are you, I recognize Raven, but…" Roy looked at Salacia's long curly hair and her angry eyes. The face was reminiscent of everything except the bruises and he didn't recognize the scar on her face. However it didn't take much for him to figure out who this woman was. "…Salacia?"

"Wow, I honestly didn't think you would recognize we if we ever met up. You grew up to be rather charming and handsome looking. How is your girlfriend?"

"What girlfriend?"

"Riza Hawkeye?"

"She's my Lieutenant, not my girlfriend!" Roy felt his cheeks turn red and Salacia chuckled. She was almost saddened, almost, by the fact that she would be torturing him to reveal the location of the sword that she sought. He had been the only person to ever be kind to her. Brenda was as well but then she gave her the scar on the side of her face and now Brenda was dead. "What are you doing with Raven, Salacia?"

"I've been under his care since my family died."

"I see…" Roy thought he shouldn't tell Salacia that Brenda was alive and well, he felt Salacia would desire Brenda's death.

"We want you to come with us; we have a few questions for you."

"Well Salacia, you know if it was just you, I would. However, with Raven Hawkeye standing there, I can't. He did after all try and kill me a long time ago."

"Oh, bad memory for you then…"

"Yeah, but you don't know how great it is knowing you are alive and well!" Roy stepped toward Salacia and would have given her a hug if it hadn't been for the fact that she knocked him down with a wave of water.

"I'm sorry to do this to you…I'll let Raven deal with you from here."

"What?" Roy looked over to see Raven clasp his hands together. Roy swiftly got up and leapt out of the way and avoided being slammed with a spike. Roy now knew how dangerous of a situation he was in, he snapped his fingers but nothing happened. "Crap…they're wet…" Salacia stood to the side and started to look out a window. The scar on her face wasn't as horrible and ugly as the scar she inflicted on her sister. Hell, her sister didn't even survive and she had always looked up to Brenda and might have possibly forgiven Brenda since she had after all been trying to calm Salacia down. Salacia didn't care at all anymore though, she had lost most of her feeling toward others and figured there was no real value in caring.

"Okay Mustang, here's the deal, you can either come quietly or I'll have to render you unconscious," Raven said with a scowl. Roy growled and ran back towards the room where Sloth was, he knew he could fight Raven but he needed to regain his composure, Salacia was alive and with Raven, that made it difficult to fight since he was confused as to why she was there. Thoughts ran rampant through his mind as he ran into the room and closed the door.

"Damn it!" Roy screamed as he took a deep breath, "I need to think!" Sloth quickly stood up and stared at Roy.

"Sir, what the hell are you doing now?" Sloth asked in a very annoyed tone.

"I'm trying to regain composure so I can fight my Lieutenant's uncle…"

"You can't fight him?"

"I can, but I'm recovering from the shock that Salacia Leona, an old friend, is alive and working _with_ Raven for crying out loud!"

"I'm guessing you can't use flames." Sloth chuckled as she looked at Roy, who was of course, soaking wet.

"Really, what tipped you off?" Roy asked. "Do you have any matches, or a lighter?"

"I really don't care right now. However, if you have to, I'll let you stay in here. Just go over to the chairs or something; Fuhrer Bradley will be back soon."

"I am _not_ reliant on him, you know."

"I know…Of course you are a wet-"

"If you dare say anything about a match, I will barbeque you."

"No problems then. If an old friend is now your enemy, why do you care?"

"Why do you and the Fuhrer continue living your lives as if you're real humans?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"It doesn't, I was just wondering why you two continued this fiasco."

"We have reasons and we don't go around telling others about those reasons."

"Fine," Roy said as he walked over to the desk. "Do you happen to have any towels or something?" Sloth pointed to a coat rack and sighed.

"There's a coat that the Fuhrer's wife left here, you can use that." Roy raised his eyebrow and chuckled.

"You'd suggest that?"

"Well, it's not like she's really his wife or anything. Honestly she's just a fake and she nor Fuhrer Bradley even care about each other."

"Do I detect a hint of jealousy there?"

"I am not Envy, sir. I'm too lazy to care." Sloth looked up in time to see shadows engulf the door and vanish. The door was gone and Raven stood in place.

"Crap…He found me," Roy said quietly.

"Just dry your hands and get it over with." Sloth took the coat and tossed it over to Roy.

"Thanks a lot."

"Don't mention it; seriously…I'm only doing this because it may get you out of this office quicker."

"Gee…Thanks," Roy said with narrow eyes as Raven walked menacingly toward the two.

"Do you intend to defend this man?" Raven asked as he looked to Sloth.

"Nope, I could not care less what happens to him."

"I see…Unfortunately I will have to kill you when I'm through here."

"Good luck with that." Sloth walked into the Fuhrer's office and sat there in hopes that she wouldn't have to be bothered or annoyed by the people outside. Raven grabbed the coat from Roy before he was able to dry his gloves off.

"I'm not letting you dry those gloves," Raven said with a scowl. Raven quickly punched Roy in the gut and grabbed him by the neck.

"Damn you Raven, what the hell do you want!"

"All in due time Mustang." Roy quickly punched Raven in the gut and broke free from Raven's hold.

"Hell, I can't let you get me that easily!" Roy grabbed Raven and tossed him against the wall. "If my hands are wet then I'll just have to bring you down using my fists."

"So you do know how to fight." Raven smirked and sent several shadow spikes toward Roy. Roy dodged the spikes but was grazed in the arm by one spike. "Salacia convinced me not to completely slaughter you on the spot, so I won't."

"What the hell have you done with her? You've corrupted her haven't you? I won't forgive that!" Roy charged into Raven and sent his fist to Raven's jaw.

"I did nothing to her; she merely killed her family on her own will."

"The Salacia I remember was an angry and hurt soul, I know that much." Roy growled and stepped in the center of the room. "Yet there is no way in hell she would have thought to murder her family and friends on her own will! Something corrupted her, and that something is you!"

"You don't know how much those words hurt, and here I thought you might make a good person for my niece."

"There is no way in hell will I ever forgive you!" Roy swiftly charged toward Raven only to have a spike shoved through his abdomen. "Ugh, Damn you…" Raven calmly walked over to Roy and slammed his fist into Roy's stomach causing Roy to spit up blood.

"I'm afraid I don't give a damn what you think about me, Mustang." Roy held his abdomen and glared at Raven, ready to strike once more. Raven clasped his hands together and Roy soon found himself being suffocated by shadows.

"Damn you!"

"Raven, don't kill him!" Salacia said quickly as she stepped in the doorway.

"Don't worry, I know how much my victims can take before my shadows kill them," Raven said. Salacia nodded and stepped back in the hall, she didn't want to see what Raven was doing to Roy. She may be evil but she still had a soft spot for Roy. That was one thing she hated more than anything.

* * *

There's the chapter, let me know what you think. Having all these hits, well over 100 hits and no reviews, that's annoying. If I don't know how to improve then I can't continue. I'm not _begging_ or anything, but a review every once and a while would be nice. 


	6. Ed, Havoc and Winry taken

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I really don't. If I did then I can tell you this, I'd know how it would end and I'd have completed the entire story by now.

A/N: This is now in the present time. Roy is 30 and Riza is 29.

A/N: I'm getting frustrated here, I mean what the hell am I updating for? I have almost 200 hits yet no reviews. How the hell am I supposed to improve or know that anyone is actually reading the thing and not just clicking and leaving? I didn't want to have to do this but here's the deal. I don't beg for reviews but until this story gets some reviews, I will not update the stories I have that you happen to like reading. That goes for the FMA stories, other categories I might do.

* * *

Chapter 6 (Havoc, Ed and Winry taken)

"What is this?" Pride asked as he stepped into the hall and saw Salacia. "Who are you?"

"Nobody important," Salacia said with a grin. "I'm just passing on through."

"Damn it to hell!" A voice exclaimed. Pride quickly realized something was going on in his office.

"What was that?" Pride asked.

"Nothing at all, you have nothing to worry about Fuhrer." Pride unsheathed his sword and walked to his office.

"I'll take the necessary precautions, be on your way ma'am." Pride walked toward his office and Salacia crossed her arms. When Pride arrived to his office he found Roy bloody and against the wall. "What the hell…" Roy fell to the ground, Raven had not killed him but Roy was now unconscious. Raven did not notice Pride standing in the doorway and he looked to the door Sloth had entered.

"Okay woman, you're next," Raven said with a low growl. "You saw me and you know that I'm taking this bastard off. So here is where you die." Pride's eyes widened as he saw Raven knock the door in. Pride growled and ran toward Raven with his sword raised.

"Do not touch my secretary!" Pride exclaimed as he brought his sword down and slashed Raven's back.

"Crap!"

"Fuhrer, you're back!" Sloth said quickly. "What the hell took you so long?"

"Stay back Colonel Douglas and let me handle this bastard."

"Are you seriously asking me to do that?"

"Are you armed?" Sloth groaned as she crossed her arms. When in their hidden identity they couldn't use their powers. She was unable to use her watery limbs and attack Raven or reveal that she was a homunculus.

"Fine, you can kill the idiot."

"Thank you; and I will gladly do it." Raven chuckled; he had enough fighting for the day and was not keen on fighting any longer. He clasped his hands together and the room grew dark. "What the hell! Where did he go!" When the darkness cleared away, Raven and Roy were both gone, Pride sheathed his sword and shrugged. "Are you alright Sloth?"

"Why are you asking me that, it's not like he did anything at all to me." Sloth walked past Pride and sat down in her chair. "I think you best get back to work."

"Yeah…but who the hell was that alchemist, I've never seen him before."

"Yes you have, you just forgot. I'm sure you remember what happened almost thirty years ago. The criminal known as Raven Hawkeye was the only man to survive having shadow alchemy injected into him and his body was replaced by darkness."

"Right, the military did that procedure…"

--

Havoc heard fighting on the upper floor; he knew very well that Roy had gone up there so he decided to check it out. He grabbed a gun and walked out of the office. He saw Frank Archer walking toward him and scowled, "Hello Colonel Archer, how are you today?"

"I am well, thank you very much."

"Great, do you know what's going on at the Fuhrer's floor?"

"No, I really have no clue what is happening."

"Pity, so do you need something?" Archer thought for a moment and then shrugged.

"I was hoping to greet the Lieutenant, actually." Havoc looked back at the office door and sighed. He knew Riza wasn't in there but he wasn't about to let Archer know that Riza was elsewhere. Havoc remembered Archer handing a note to the Fuhrer's office and he knew from the fighting going on that something was wrong.

"Sure Archer, she's in there…Lead the way." Archer smiled as he walked toward the door. He opened and walked in with Havoc and sighed. "Oh, I'm sorry Colonel; I guess she's not really here." Archer turned to see Havoc with a grim look on his face. "That note was forged, wasn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"The note you gave for Colonel Mustang to go to the Fuhrer's office. Something is obviously happening and I get the sinking feeling that you're involved. It would make since because you hate him, you consider him a rival for Riza Hawkeye's affections and you would do anything to get him out of your hair."

"That's a cruel way to look at it, Lieutenant Havoc."

"Cruel as it may seem, everyone knows your personality. You don't give damn about the wellbeing of women and only want them for their body. If a man is in their way you try to remove them from the spot." Havoc heard a banging from the upper floor and looked up. "Care to tell me what is happening up there?"

"If you want to know the truth…" Archer crossed his arms and smirked. "Roy Mustang is being intercepted by Raven Hawkeye."

"What! You're getting off easily on this one Archer!" Havoc turned around only to be shot in the back. "Damn it!" Havoc fell to the ground and turned over to look at Archer.

"I don't think so…Now that you know what is happening; I think I'll intercept you. I feel like torturing the crap out of you."

"Why is that?"

"You're always harping on my ass about how I act and you are one of Mustang's loyal followers. So with that, I choose torture as the best way to take you down."

"Right, I'd like to see this happen…" Havoc quickly stood up and fired a shot at Archer. Archer dodged the bullet and glared at Havoc. "Why do I feel like there is more to you than what meets the eye, Archer?"

"Perhaps it is because there really is. Like I pulled strings for my best friend, Kimblee, to return to his military status…I pulled enough strings to keep my past hidden."

"Heh, what were you in the past, a gangster or something?"

"That's precisely correct actually." Havoc growled and spit his cigarette into a trashcan.

"Okay, then I'll have no choice but to take you down!" Havoc fired more gunshots upon Armstrong.

"You know, I wasn't finished with my little story."

"I don't really give a damn."

"Let me tell you something…I'm working with Raven Hawkeye and Salacia Leona to find some piece of treasure that Salacia wants. I'm hoping to get a treasure that _I _want."

"Do I even have to ask what it is that you want?"

"No, because you know full well what it is. You also know that I'm going to get that treasure and I don't care if she complains or not."

"Heh, you won't be getting your hands on Riza anytime soon."

"Oh I will, it may not be soon, but I will. I wouldn't mind hearing her whimper and scream, to see what is on the inside of that tough exterior."

"That's enough of that!" Havoc charged toward Archer and punched him in the abdomen before shoving his gun against Havoc's leg and firing a bullet. Archer shifted his leg over but still was grazed by the shot, he then punched Havoc in the face and grabbed Havoc by the throat. He shoved Havoc against the wall and grinned.

"I see who the better marksman is now, Jean Havoc." Havoc growled as Archer brought up his gun and fired a shot into Havoc's abdomen. He then brought his gun to Havoc's arm and fired another shot. Havoc dropped his gun as he slowly drifted out of consciousness. "Don't worry; we'll make sure you don't die from your wounds. We want Mustang to see one of his closest friends and subordinates being tortured. He will be tortured as well and eventually reveal the location of that sword that Kimblee's girlfriend so desires."

"Archer, did you get Riza?" A voice asked. Archer looked over at Salacia and Raven and plopped Havoc over his shoulder.

"No, but his closest friend will be just fine." Archer looked at Roy's unconscious body that was plopped over Raven's shoulder and grinned.

"Yeah, we got Roy," Salacia said quietly. "Damn Archer, you could have told us you intended to capture someone else."

"Oh I hope we can accommodate this person. Besides, I've always wanted to torture my greatest rival. Despite being of lower rank, he has always been a better marksman than I have…Though you didn't hear that from me."

"Yeah that's great…Let's hope Kimblee can get Elric."

--

"I have always been fascinated with the concept of automail, Winry," Riza said with a smile.

"Yeah, automail is a great thing to work with. You should try it sometime, I'm sure grandma would be happy to teach you some things about it!" Winry said quickly. "So, you're here to see Edward for something?"

"Yes, Roy would be here but the Fuhrer requested him for something. Anyway, we needed to tell him that we found Van Hoenheim…"

"Really that's great!" Winry noticed the frown on Riza's face. "What's wrong?"

"He's dead…"

"What! That's terrible! When did it happen and how?"

"I am not sure…Someone has come forward though with photos of a fight that took place ten years ago between a dark haired man who is unrecognizable and Hoenheim…" Riza some photos out of her pocket and handed them to Winry. "He stated that he was too fearful to come forward and this dark haired man does look fearsome."

"What are you saying Lieutenant?" Ed asked as he stepped into the room. "Are you saying my father's been dead this entire time?"

"Sadly it seems so…Do you recognize the man in this photo?" Ed looked at the photographs and his hands began to tremble.

"This…This is that bastard, Hoenheim…He really is dead and nobody knew this!"

"Unfortunately that is the case…We've talked to this witness and he describes the fight perfectly. He says that in the end Hoenheim fell to the ground with several black spikes driven through him."

"Father is dead?" Al asked as he walked into the room. "I don't understand…He's been dead all this time…"

"Oh so sad," A voice said from behind. Everyone turned to see Wrath standing with his arms crossed.

"What are you doing here?" Ed asked with a sneer.

"Nothing, I merely desire your death…" Wrath charged toward Edward and threw a punch toward Ed. Ed quickly dodged out of the way After several minutes of fighting, they had moved outside and both Ed and Wrath were very bloody.

"Not much more until you die, eh Wrath?"

"Shut the hell up!" Suddenly massive explosions surrounded Wrath and knocked Ed away. The chain of explosions vanished and in Wrath's place was a puddle of red liquid.

"What the hell…Wrath!"

"What happened to him, brother?" Al asked.

"Oh nothing, it's just something that I like to call killing the homunculus," A voice came. Everyone turned to see Kimblee walking toward them with a grin on his face. "It appears Wrath saved me the trouble of having to fight you entirely. I notice how bloody you are."

"Damn you Kimblee…That was a cheap shot!"

"Yes, well I wasn't looking to go after Wrath anytime soon. However with him dead, it's fine by me." Ed growled and stepped in front of Riza and Winry.

"Stay back and I'll deal with this bastard." Ed had his transmuted blade out and was breathing heavily from his battle with Wrath. He charged toward Kimblee and slashed at him only to have him dodged and punch Ed in the back.

"You know, one great way to further incapacitate you and render you unable to fight…is this." Kimblee clasped his hands together and massive explosions were heard around Al, Winry and Riza, causing them to be sent flying in different directions.

"What have you done Kimblee, how dare you attack them!" Kimblee smirked and found a piece of metal that blew off of Alphonse.

"Oh, what is this?" Kimblee asked as he picked up the metal. "It appears to be a blood seal…I wonder…"

"Don't you dare touch that!" Ed exclaimed. Kimblee smirked and despite Al's screaming he smudged off the blood seal. "No! Al!" Ed fell to his knees and pounded the ground as Kimblee walked and saw Riza and Winry on the ground.

"It looks like Archer's target is dead...However this little girl appears to be living."

"No, stop it!" Winry exclaimed as Kimblee grabbed her hair and pulled her up.

"Let her go, she's all I have now!" Ed exclaimed.

"Really, so in that case, if I kill her…You'll cooperate?"

"No, don't touch her! I'll do whatever you want!"

"Fine, come with me if you want this girl to live." Ed let the tears flow from his eyes as he walked over to Kimblee. "Thank you, you seem very obedient. I'm afraid I need to render you unconscious though."

"What?" Kimblee jabbed his fist into Ed's abdomen.

"Edward!" Winry screamed. Kimblee growled and shook Winry.

"Shut up little girl, you're coming with him anyway since you saw this." He looked back over at Riza who lay on the ground. He saw that Riza was still awake and alive but he didn't care, he would leave her to die. "I think you'd be interested in knowing that your uncle killed off those homunculi, Riza! Dante and Gluttony died by the hands of Raven Hawkeye! Now we're going to abduct Mustang and Elric in hopes of getting my girlfriend that sword she wants. Be lucky you don't have to die by my hands but I will not take you in to be raped by Archer." Kimblee sighed as he took Ed's body and tossed him into a car along with shoving Winry into a car. "Well, here we go, say bye."

* * *

There's the chapter, I hope you enjoyed it!


	7. Talk of Redemption

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I really don't. If I did then I can tell you this, I'd know how it would end and I'd have completed the entire story by now.

A/N: Ignore the Author note on the last chapter, I don't really care if you review or not. However a review would be nice, at least one or two just to let me know you're actually reading this and I'm not updating for nothing.

* * *

Chapter 7 (Talk of redemption)

"It's you again," Brenda said as Scar walked into her school. "What do you want now?" Brenda stood from her chair and crossed her arms. "I'm making some pie…it's almost done if you would like some."

"Why would you be offering me anything to eat?" Scar asked. Brenda looked over and sighed as the oven beeped.

"Well you are here and I'm fixing to eat…"

"You're eating pie for lunch?"

"No, I'm going to eat my food before I eat the pie…" Brenda walked over and opened the oven, she then pulled the cherry pie out and set it on the counter.

"Do you live here?"

"This is pretty much my home, yes." Brenda pulled some bread from the pantry and pulled out some ingredients. "Do you want a sandwich?"

"No thank you. I was hoping you could tell me more about the Flame Alchemist actually."

"It depends, what do you want to know and why? I was not joking earlier when I said if you tried to kill any more state alchemists that I would dismember you. Roy Mustang happens to be my close childhood friend and if you kill him then I have no choice but to extract vengeance and justice upon you." Brenda picked up a mug on the counter and took a drink of the coffee before setting it down. "Want some coffee?"

"Sure."

"Okay, the pitcher is over there, get some of it out of there." Scar nodded and walked over, cups were there as well. "I should tell you this Scar. Killing, revenge, vengeance it is never a proper answer. Revenge only creates more revenge. If you kill for revenge or because of hate, then you are bound to have someone else killing you because of revenge. I promise you this, if you were to kill Roy Mustang then Riza Hawkeye would kill you. I also believe sincerely that would be the case with everyone that knows Roy, even Edward Elric."

"You have a point," Scar said quietly. "However I have caused too much suffering."

"Yep, not many people trust someone who winds up killing for his own selfish reasons." Brenda cut a slice of the pie and set it on the plate. "Tell me Scar, are you a believer?"

"Yes."

"I am a believer as well. However, if you are a believer then why do you go against God's wishes?" Scar's eyes widened as he looked at Brenda. "Does it not say in the holy book, what breeds one thing will breed another. If one does not have a compassionate and forgiving heart but turns to hatred and anger then they start killing. Even if it starts as justice it winds up being revenge and murder. That murder and revenge then spawns another to turn and commit revenge."

"I suppose…" Brenda picked up the plate and handed it to Scar who stood there staring at the plate.

"Let me speak of a well known and true story. Of anger, hatred and revenge that went on for several generations of time. There was once a man who contaminated a young girls mind to destroy others out of hatred and revenge. That man himself was a criminal who wanted revenge against the family of that girl, the father had him sent to prison where the military operated on him. The man that operated, General Grand, did so out of revenge for the death of his wife that was killed by someone with similar alchemic capabilities. The man that killed Grand's wife did so only because Grand's father killed that one man's father. The father of that man murdered someone else out of revenge. In fact the line of revenge generally goes back and forth starting from the early seventeenth century." Scar raised his eyebrow as Brenda unsheathed her sword.

"Why did you pull that out?"

"There is a lot of mystery shrouded with this sword and I did a lot of research on it since it came in my possession. It is said to have been crafted in the seventeenth century. A blacksmith was going to give it to one of his sons and both sons had a wife who loved the sword dearly. The wives convinced their husband to take it. Well one man killed his brother and stole the sword, all in front of his own son. That son grew up and had such anger and hatred for this man that he killed his uncle and his uncle's daughter. It would continue through the generations until the family was not family anymore but distant cousins and the cycle of revenge spurned out of control. The flames of murder spun through sisters, brothers, boyfriends, girlfriends, sons, daughters, friends and so much more. Eventually the descendant of the first murderer was Brigader General Grand and when he married his wife, she was slaughtered by a dark alchemist user. Then a criminal with similar alchemy was sent to prison and was turned in by an abusive man who had tricked the criminal into revealing his secret through alcohol. Grand hated this criminal for having alchemy similar to that which killed his wife and he operated on the criminal by injecting the criminal's alchemy along with a philosopher's stone into his body. The criminal was released after some time and he was angry and burning with revenge for the man that sent him to that place. It was then that he corrupted a young girl's heart and mind. This girl was abused and picked on constantly, on a daily basis…She killed her father, her mother, her two sisters as well as her brother. All this hate and revenge was started over a single, solitary sword that I now possess in my hands."

"How did you come to retrieve it?"

"I saved Roy Mustang's life when he nearly drowned several years ago. This was stuck in a wall and it came out…"

"Oh…how do you know about all this?"

"I was able to do some tracing in the generation lines but it took some research to figure out who Grand's ancestor was…I was shocked as I traced the descendant lines and realized how close to home this was…That girl I told you about was my own sister."

"She was your sister?"

"Yes." Brenda lifted her shirt a little to reveal parts of the scar left on her body. Scar's eyes widened as she revealed the part of her giant scar. "This is only part of a more ugly and hideous scar that she inflicted upon my body so long ago."

"Have you sought revenge or hated her?"

"No. I could never hate my own sister, I'm pretty sure she's alive and I want some day to bring her back to reality and stop all this damned bloodshed. However if the time ever comes that I have to fight her, then I want to do it in order to bring her to justice." Brenda held her cup in her hand and stared out a window. "If I should ever turn to attack her because of revenge, then I shall kill myself by thrusting this sword through my own chest."

"So you fight for justice and not revenge?"

"Of course, I do not desire my sister's death. If I were to desire her death then there would be no point in training my students. I train them to fight for righteousness not for the evils of man."

"So you're saying that fighting out of hatred and revenge is wrong…"

"Did you catch anything that I said at all, Scar? Yes it's not right to allow hatred to fuel you and be your source of fighting. Hatred clouds the mind and revenge only causes more revenge. Someone will inevitably come back and hunt you down out of their revenge. Tell me this, Scar, are you the ones who caused the death of the Dr. Rockbells? I heard that they were murdered during the war." Scar looked downward.

"Yes."

"I see…There are two laws that this could go by. These two paths are the right path, the path of forgiveness or the evil path, the path of revenge."

"Care to explain?" Brenda chuckled and took a sip of her drink.

"Those doctors saved my life."

"Oh." Scar frowned and noticed the sword still in Brenda's hand.

"Do not worry, I will not lash out against you."

"Why?"

"That would be wrong of course." Brenda sheathed her sword and pointed to the pie. "Eat, you are not my enemy."

"It would be fair if you were to strike me."

"No, it would be out of revenge if I did so. It would be denying you of a choice. I gave you a choice when I told you that I would serve justice to you if you continued to kill. So it's either kill and you will be punished for your crimes or don't kill and you will be redeemed for your crimes. Revenge would be killing you before you ever got that choice."

"I understand…So you choose not to act on revenge."

"Are you going to eat that pie, Scar? If not I'll take it, I happen to love pie."

"I will eat it, thank you for your hospitality."

--

"Damn, I'm aching all over," Riza said as she pushed herself from the ground. She had merely been knocked away from where everyone was but was in too much pain to move. She looked over and frowned when she saw Al's armor, "I can't believe what just happened…Was Kimblee telling the truth? Did they really abduct Roy? No…that can't be. Roy couldn't have been captured." Riza got onto the nearest train to Central and arrived at the headquarters an hour later. She hurried to the office where she hoped to find Roy. "Roy!" She called as she opened the door. There was nobody in the office, even Havoc was gone. "Roy, Havoc! Where are you two?" Riza groaned as tears left her eyes. "Damn it Kimblee…What else did he say? He said something about Archer, so I wonder what Archer would have to do with this. He also mentioned his girlfriend wanting some damn sword…I wonder if that's the sword Ed wanted to ask Roy about."

"Lieutenant Hawkeye, you are still here?" A voice asked. Riza turned to see Sloth standing behind her. "Your superior officer and his subordinate were abducted a little while ago…" Riza's eyes widened, she was afraid of that. "The ones that abducted him seemed to be fairly strong, one of them was using shadow alchemy."

"Shadow alchemy? My uncle uses shadow alchemy!"

"Yes, well maybe that's who abducted Colonel Mustang…There's nothing we can do about it now." Sloth turned to leave. "Of course, I suspect you will want to try and save your Colonel, I would suggest getting some help."

"You're correct…I will rescue him…I can't go on unless he's here!"

"You love him, don't you?"

"What?"

"Do you love him?"

"Yes…"

"You know what I'd do if it were me, then? Go after him and go after those that have kidnapped him. That's stating the obvious of course, I'm thinking you will have time off until your boss is safe."

"I don't knew if he loves me though…"

"That's something that you will have to find out." Riza watched as Sloth walked away, she wanted to break down and cry but she couldn't do that.

--

Roy looked up from his binds, he was strapped to a wall and Havoc was next to him. "Havoc, are you awake yet?" Roy asked.

"I'm afraid he still sleeps," A man said quickly. Roy looked over and saw Raven staring at him with a frown. "I suspect Kimblee should be returning soon." Roy let out a small growl and snapped his fingers only to find that nothing happened. "Did you think we'd be dumb enough to let you keep your gloves on?"

"Damn you…"

"Hey boss, I got him!" A voice said. Roy looked over with wide eyes as he saw Kimblee walk in while carrying Edward and pulling Winry.

"You captured Fullmetal as well!"

"Why yes we did," Raven said with a chuckle. Roy watched as Kimblee bound Ed to the wall next to Roy. Winry received the same treatment.

"It was easier than we thought it would be actually," Kimblee stated. "All we had to do was kill the younger brother and he lost his will to fight."

"You did what!" Roy was furious, if he had his gloves he would have lit Kimblee on fire. "You better be lying, Alphonse Elric better-"

"He's dead," Winry said with tears in her eyes. "Kimblee killed Alphonse and then threatened my life."

"Damn it…"

"Archer was supposed to go after Hawkeye," Kimblee stated as he crossed his arms. "Of course, he didn't find her. He found Havoc and I found her."

"You better not have done anything to her!"

"Oh don't worry, she's still alive, but I doubt you will be seeing her again. Of all the things I believe, one thing is for sure, you know something and you are going to tell us."

"Heh, that depends, what the hell do you want to know?" Raven chuckled as he stood up slowly he looked at Ed as he opened his eyes.

"Al…Winry…wait, where am I!" Ed exclaimed. He looked over and saw Roy strapped to a wall along with Havoc and Winry.

"I wish I could ask if you've had a good nap, Fullmetal. I hope so because it doesn't appear that we will be having anymore good naps for a while."

* * *

There's the seventh chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, drop a review!


	8. Torture

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I really don't. If I did then I can tell you this, I'd know how it would end and I'd have completed the entire story by now.

Thanks to those who reviewed. Those of you who thought Ed wasn't depressed enough about Al's death, I didn't know how to write it in without making a big deal but you'll see just how upset he is about it in this chapter. Remember that when Al died, he lost the will to fight, even with Winry there. Though I never liked how the show always portrayed him as not caring about Winry as much as Al and if Al died he would want to die even if Winry was around.

* * *

Chapter 8 (Torture)

"Okay, so you are going to tell us what we want to know," Archer said as he stepped into the room. Roy glared at him and let out a low growl.

"You better not be trying to do anything to Riza!" Roy exclaimed.

"All I heard was that he keeps wanting to seduce her," Havoc stated. Raven raised his eyebrow as he looked at Archer. Archer laughed nervously and grew stern. He pulled out his gun and pressed it against Havoc's arm.

"You're going to shut the hell up or I'm going to blow your brains out!" Archer exclaimed.

"Go ahead and try!" Archer smirked and fired a bullet into Havoc's arm.

"Sadly they want you alive for torture."

"Archer, stand down," Raven said quietly. Raven looked over at Kimblee and frowned, "Do you know where your girlfriend is?"

"Salacia does her own thing," Kimblee stated with a shrug. Roy's eyes widened and he shouted at Kimblee.

"Salacia is your girlfriend! How is that possible!" Roy glared at Raven and growled. "How could you do this to Salacia, what the hell did you do to her! Did you force her into this!"

"Shut up!" A voice exclaimed. Everyone watched as Salacia walked into the room. She stared into Roy's eyes and made note of the anger and sadness in his eyes. She walked toward Roy and slapped him across the face. "I chose this path myself Roy, Raven had nothing to do with this!"

"I don't understand why you would choose this path, revenge would never get you what you wanted…Can you say that you are truly happy with where you are right now, Salacia?" Salacia frowned and once more slapped Roy across the face.

"You should learn to mind your own business," Salacia said with a sneer. She crossed her arms and walked away. "I can't bear to look at this bastard any longer." Roy looked down and Ed looked over with sorrowful eyes.

"That is Salacia? I'm sorry one of your old friends turned evil," Ed said quietly.

"She can't be…There still has to be some good inside of her somewhere…There has to be," Roy said quietly.

"I hate to tell you this, but she hasn't had a drop of good in her since she killed off her family," Kimblee said with a chuckle. "She proved it by murdering the one sister who was the nicest to her." Roy couldn't hold back the chuckle that escaped his lips at that statement. "What the hell do you find amusing?" Kimblee punched Roy in the gut causing him to spit some blood on the floor. "Maybe we should heal some of your wounds first…Nah…"

"W-What do you want?"

"We want to know where the sword is," Raven said as he stood up. Roy frowned and Ed looked over at Roy. "The sword that belongs to a flame alchemist, we know you have it."

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about. Aaah, Crap!" Raven had sent a spike through Roy's leg.

"Where is the sword!" Raven exclaimed. "You know of its location!"

"I don't know!" Raven hit Roy in the jaw with his fist.

"Quit that!" Ed exclaimed. "Quit what you're doing!"

"Like you care," Kimblee said as he kicked Ed in the stomach. Roy shouted in pain as Raven started to crush his leg with shadows and releasing. Kimblee created explosions in front of Ed.

"Edward, Colonel!" Winry exclaimed. "Please stop, you're hurting them!"

"We know this," Archer said with a smirk. "This is why we're doing it. The more they're tortured the sooner they'll reveal what we want to know."

"What happens if they don't know anything about the sword!"

"We have reason to believe that they know more about it than they let on."

"I don't know anything about that weapon!" Roy shouted as Raven kicked Roy in the gut. Roy was coughing up a large amount of blood and shouting in agony as Raven sent spikes into him. Salacia leaned on the wall outside the room and sat down. She wanted to cry, the torture of Roy reminded her so much of the torture she experienced at her home when she was young. She stood up and walked into the room.

"Raven, I'm going out, are you alright with this?" Salacia made a point not to look at Roy when he looked at her with his sad and painful eyes. She knew he was confused as to why she was with Raven and she was trying not to care at all.

"Sure, go ahead," Raven said as he punched Roy in the side of the face. "Tell us where the sword is you bastard!"

"I don't know anything! Ugh!" That was the last thing Salacia heard as she left the lair.

"You'll tell us what we want to know in due time…" Raven, Archer and Kimblee walked out of the room and left Roy and Ed dripping with blood.

"Damn…they took my gloves and there is no way to get out," Roy said quietly. He groaned with pain in his body.

"Colonel, Is there really a sword like that?" Ed asked. "Was that sword I asked you about a real sword?"

"Of course it was, Fullmetal. It's a sword that was crafted in the seventeenth century."

"Its current user is a flame alchemist and they think that's you?"

"In case you missed any vital details…yes they do believe it's me."

"Damn…So why did they want me?"

"I'm guessing they figured you knew something about the sword as well…Either that or their planning on torturing you, Havoc and Winry in order to get me to reveal the location of the sword."

"Do you know the location of it?"

"I can't reveal that, we may be on surveillance," Roy said in a low whisper. Roy hit his hand against the wall and smirked. "If you want to know then we'll do this…I'll tap my hand against the wall, if you hear three taps within six seconds then that means yes. If you hear three taps _after_ six seconds then the answer is no."

"Okay…so do you know the sword?" Ed looked straight ahead when asking this question to make it seem like he was talking to himself. He heard three taps within six seconds. "Do you know the location of the sword?" Once more, three taps within six seconds. "Do you know the owner?" Once more the answer was yes. "Would any of us know the owner?" The answer this time was no. "Does Salacia know the owner?" Yes, she did in fact know the owner. However she didn't realize the owner was alive or even had the sword.

"I was told to never reveal who the owner of the sword was though," Roy said quietly. "Then someone found out and spoke out that a flame alchemist owned the sword, fortunately it was not mentioned who the person was. The owner of the sword is someone from Riza's past."

"So the owner wasn't from your past?" Ed heard three taps after six seconds, meaning the owner was from Roy's direct past. Roy only said Riza just in case they were on surveillance. Riza never met Brenda Leona in her life so Brenda wouldn't be found out so easily. "Roy, I know that my father's dead now…My brother's gone too…"

"I'm sorry for that Fullmetal."

"If it wasn't for Winry…I would want to kill myself."

"Don't talk like that Edward!" Winry said quickly.

"It's true…Al was one of the last things I had going for me…"

"I wish there was something I could do for you Ed," Roy said solemnly. "Will you continue searching for the stone?"

"No…I'm done with that now…"

"I see…Will you reside with Pinako and Winry?"

"It would be too awkward…I honestly don't know where I'm going to do or what I will do."

"Do you want a family, Ed?"

"I guess…but I don't have a family anymore." Roy nodded and looked toward the door. Raven walked back in with a smirk on his face.

"You know, I think you'd be too strong willed with the girl in here," Raven said. "I'm going to take her and havoc to another room. We don't want to bother with your responses as we torture them, we'd rather see you watching them be tortured on live screen after the torture is done. So we will be taking them to another room."

"No, don't do it!" Ed shouted. It was too late, soon Winry and Havoc were out of the room and placed in some room where Roy and Ed wouldn't know if they were safe.

"I'm just glad Riza's not here," Roy said quietly. "I would hate to see her in this position and I would hate for her to see me in this position…"

"Do you love her?"

"Do I love Riza?" Roy looked over at Ed and Ed nodded his hand. "Riza's the most wonderful woman in the world, Ed. I can't get enough of having her around me…Her voice is sweet to my ears, her touch is so soft…I love watching her hands when she writes, every movement she makes is so subtle. Her scent drives me wild and I'm sure it does every other man in Central. I love her and I always have loved her. I remember being chastised by Brenda whenever I didn't tell her how I felt about her…How could I though if I don't know how she feels about me?"

"I think she feels strongly for you…"

"I don't really know…I know that I would do anything for her, even team up with the homunculi if that's what I had to do to save her…That is how much I love that woman. She's done so much for me over the years and she's taken so much care for me, I don't know what I would do without her."

"I think you are in love with her, Colonel. You sound like you are…"

"I know I am…You haven't seen anything until you've seen what that sweet smile does to me. I long to embrace her lips and take her in my arms…I can't stand these people like Archer who only want her for her body…They can't see her for what's inside and who she is. Inside, she is a beautiful and delicate flower and she deserves the utmost of care."

"Heh, you sound like me almost…"

"What do you mean?"

"The way I feel for Winry…Right now she's pretty much all I have left and the only thing keeping me alive. I'm not sure what I would do if she died. I don't want her to be here, I don't want her to see this…It's painful for me to see her cry and I know she'll be crying numerous tears while she's here and they won't be for her."

"Riza and Winry are probably a lot alike, Ed. I'm not too sure on that but they seem rather similar. Riza's always cared about me but usually as a friend…Right now she's probably just sitting around wondering where I am."

"I'm thinking she'd be searching for you."

"Maybe…You know, I have this theory about one of Raven's attacks."

"You know his attacks?"

"I've fought him many years ago, one thing is a black hole attack, it holds numerous lives in it…If you transmute his black hole you might free all the souls that are trapped inside of it and you would create a philosopher's stone…"

"I wouldn't use it…"

"I know, but wouldn't you want to free all the trapped souls that are wandering around in that pitch black darkness?"

"Yeah…I'm sure I'd want to do that for them. Unfortunately we can't do such a thing right now…"

"True, being trapped here doesn't really have any benefits." Roy let out a tired sigh, his body ached all over and he dropped his head. Ed looked over and his eyes widened.

"Colonel, Colonel? Roy! Wake up damn it, don't you die! You need to stay alive for Riza!" Ed continued to shout at Roy until he brought his head up.

"You don't need to shout," Roy said with a painful voice. Roy didn't feel too comfortable about being strapped to the wall with his limbs in an 'X' form. Blood was flowing and dripping from him and Edward wasn't nearly as beaten up.

"Were you in a fight with one of those guys earlier?"

"I think we all fought with them," Roy said quietly. "Though it appears I've taken the worst of the blows. It is only because they want me to reveal that sword to them…Those greedy bastards…"

"I'm not thrilled with what they're doing right now…"

"Funny, I thought you would have enjoyed seeing me in a bloody heap."

"What the hell makes you think that! I may always have acted like I didn't trust you but I would never have wished this on you."

"I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy…"

"This is torture for both of us…It's going to be a hell of a lot worse when we see what they're going to do to Winry and your subordinate."

"It would be completely worse if it was Riza rather than Havoc…I do know what Archer would do to her and I'm thankful she's not here for him to do anything to her…"

"You don't think they'll do anything to Winry do you?"

"Of course not, I'm pretty sure they know they know she's underage."

"That's still not very settling since they are _evil_."

"We'll just have to see what will happen…I'm sure you know there's not much we can do right now."

"Yeah…this sucks…we'll just have to wait and see what happens. The only thing I wish in my life was that I could have had a father…He left and I find out he died shortly after leaving…he might have returned. I can't believe it…now I've lost my whole family!" Tears were flowing down Ed's face and mixing with the blood that drenched his face. Roy was saddened as well but he tried not to cry.

* * *

There it is, chapter 8 


	9. Teaming Up

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I really don't. If I did then I can tell you this, I'd know how it would end and I'd have completed the entire story by now.

* * *

Chapter 9 (Teaming up)

"Damn it, Wrath is dead!" Envy exclaimed as he slammed his fist into a wall.

"Relax Envy," Lust said as she crossed her arms. "Maybe we can find out who did it…"

"I was thinking the Elric brothers...However I can't find them anywhere!" Envy and Lust walked around Risembool until they found a heap of metal outside a house. "What the…hell…Lust, what is this scrap?"

"It looks like the remains of Alphonse Elric…" Lust picked up a piece of the metal and frowned. "No…"

"Crap, Dante, Gluttony, and Wrath die…Colonel Mustang and one of his subordinates go missing along with Edward Elric and now this...What the hell is going on?"

"Who could be capable of this?"

"Ah, we could have done this ourselves…However we never did think to do anything like this…Making Mustang and his subordinates vanish and causing Elric to disappear from the face of the earth."

"I believe Hoenheim is dead also."

"I know…I found out about that already…There's not much point in being angry with a bastard who has died off."

"I was really hoping to find the philosopher's stone you know…For Pride and Sloth…"

"Heh, they do want to be human…do they want to start a family or something?"

"I don't know...It's obvious they like each other…That stone would have made them happy."

"Well none of us care about that right now, we still need to look for clues as to who the hell has done all of this!"

"I found some of these photos on the ground…" Lust held up some photos that she found a while back. They were photos surrounding the final moments of Hoenheim's life. "This black haired man…do you recognize him?"

"Let me see those…" Envy took the photos and stared at them intensely. "No, I can't see his face in any of these…"

"Then that is no help to us."

"I can't believe Pride doesn't really want revenge for Dante's death…He doesn't want vengeance for her death or Gluttony, or even Wrath…Neither does Sloth."

"Those two are confusing, I will admit that…However as for now, Pride is our leader. He probably will want to give Dante's killers what they deserve."

"What the hell is that, a helping hand?" Envy scoffed and crossed his arms.

"We will just need to see what happens."

-----------------

"Damn it, I need clues…I need to know where to look or who to find!" Riza said quickly as she sat at her desk. She had her elbows on the desk and her hands on her temples. "If I remain as calm as possible…I can surely think of what to do…I know Kimblee is involved…I think Archer is as well. Did Kimblee say something about my Uncle?" Riza's eyes widened and she sat up straight. "If that's the case then there is no way I can take them on alone!" Riza stood up and sighed, she didn't like standing in the desolate office, there was a huge amount of blood splatter on one of the walls. "I can call Armstrong perhaps…He might be of some help since everyone else is gone." Riza reached for the phone and dialed the number for Major Armstrong.

"Hello?" A female voice asked. It was Armstrong's sister, General Olivia Armstrong.

"General Armstrong, this is Riza Hawkeye, I need to speak with the Major."

"He can't talk right now, can I take a message for you?"

"Is something wrong with Major Armstrong?"

"My brother is very sick and cannot get out of the bed…I am taking care of him."

"Damn it…"

"Why, what is the matter? I note a hint of distress in your voice."

"It's the Colonel and Jean Havoc…As well as Edward Elric and Winry Rockbell…they've been abducted."

"Crap…I wish I could help you!"

"I know…Thanks anyway." Riza sighed as she hung up the phone. There was always Kain Fuery. Yet he wasn't as good of a fighter as Riza but he was worth a try. She quickly dialed his number on the phone.

"Hello?"

"Fuery, this is Lieutenant Hawkeye, how is your mother?"

"Still very sick…"

"Damn…Listen, Colonel Mustang, Lieutenant Havoc, Edward Elric and Winry Rockbell have been abducted…Do you know of anybody, anyone at all that can help? Perhaps even you can help save them? I know who took them…"

"I can't help you…I wish I could though. Is Falman still on that investigation?"

"Yes."

"Breda is still on the cruise?"

"Unfortunately he is."

"Once more I apologize for the inconvenience. Have you thought about reaching Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Bloch?"

"I can't expect them to leave their honeymoon early!"

"You know they would do it for you and the Colonel."

"I know, but I'm not going to force them to do that…"

"I take it Major Armstrong is still sick?"

"Yes…There's nothing I can do…I can't fight the ones that have taken Roy from me on my own. It takes a hell of a lot to get me to admit that!"

"I know, how bad is it?"

"The men that have taken Roy are Frank Archer, Zolf Kimblee and my _Uncle!"_

"How bad is your uncle?"

"Yes, I also heard that he

"Let me put it this way…Have you ever heard of the murderer known as Raven Hawkeye?"

went through some experiment thanks to the military…"

"Yes, and that made him part homunculus and allowed him to retain his alchemic powers. He poisoned my father with shadow alchemy that spent years absorbing my father's blood until he died. He has a black hole that can suck you up into an eternal dark hell…He is no means a powerful alchemist, but he doesn't die easily."

"Ouch…I'm sorry and I wish I could help you…My mom's coughing I have to go!" Riza sighed as Fuery hung up the phone. Riza hung up the phone and crossed her arms.

"Okay…Maybe I will have to save him myself…My uncle, he's smart I know this much…If I can find his lair and sneak in then I can get Roy out of there alive…I hope." Riza rubbed her forehead and let out a sigh. "Then again, if my uncle is smart, he will have Archer and Kimblee guarding the place like mad and he'll probably be watching like a hawk…I hate how that sounds right now." Riza walked over to Roy's desk and frowned, he had paperwork on the desk. "Of course he can't fill it out right now…"

"How are you feeling?" A voice asked. Riza turned to see Sloth standing in the doorway.

"What?"

"I asked you how you were feeling."

"Why is it you care?"

"I feel like it…You're upset, that much is obvious. Are you trying to find a way to help your Colonel?"

"Of course I am!"

"Good…I mean this deeply, I hope you find him…" Sloth turned and walked away. Riza crossed her arms and sighed, she remembered Kimblee saying something about how they killed Dante and Gluttony. Kimblee himself killed Wrath. Riza's eyes widened, of course the homunculi would want to defeat Raven for what they did to Dante. It was well known by the men in Roy's department that the Fuhrer and his secretary were homunculi.

"Sloth, come back!" Riza received no answer so she quickly ran out of the office and ran up the stairs in search of the Fuhrer's office. She found the door to the office and ran in. She didn't see Pride or Sloth anywhere, she couldn't believe what she was about to do but she wanted to ask the homunculi for their help. "Pride, Sloth…are you in here?"

"What do you want?" A voice asked quickly. Riza turned to see an elongated fingernail hovering at her throat. Lust and Envy were standing in the room and glaring angrily at her.

"Is there something you need?" Envy asked as he clenched his fists.

"Please, hold on…"

"Give us reason not to kill you…"

"Lust, Envy, stand down!" Pride said as he and Sloth stepped out of the main office. Lust retracted her nails, she and Envy glared at Pride.

"This human knows about us!"

"It doesn't matter…She does not need to die."

"There is nothing she did to merit death," Sloth said quietly. "Riza, come over here if you will." Riza nodded and walked over to Pride and Sloth. "Did you need to speak with us about something?"

"Yes…Will Envy and Lust not try and kill me?"

"We'll make sure they don't harm you," Pride stated. "Don't worry about that."

"Heh, be lucky they're the nicer ones," Envy said with a smirk.

"I…I know who killed Dante and the other two homunculi," Riza said.

"What!" Envy and Lust stared at Riza with wide eyes. Pride and Sloth appeared indifferent.

"It doesn't matter to us anymore," Pride said quietly. "Sloth and I don't care…"

"Don't you want justice for their deaths though? It would only make sense if you went after them…Besides, I need help in saving Roy!"

"Hah, we don't give a damn about the flame alchemist!" Envy shouted. Riza ignored Envy and looked into Pride's eyes. She thought that she could see a hint of softness in the homunculus's eyes. She thought that this homunculus looked sorrowful.

"Please, will you help me save Roy? As well as Havoc, Edward and Winry, I can't save them on my own." Pride and Sloth looked at each other and nodded their heads. Pride looked to Riza with a smile and Envy stood with his mouth open.

"Of course we'll help you out," Pride said as he crossed his arms. "It's the least we can do…"

"What?"

"First it would be good if we could find out where the enemy has their lair hidden. Tell us the names of those who are suspected of abducting your Colonel."

"My uncle, Raven Hawkeye is one."

"Does he have somewhat long black hair?"

"Yes, it's in a braid, have you seen him before?"

"He attacked us the other day…There was this woman that was with him though."

"A woman, you say…Kimblee did mention having a girlfriend…Kimblee is one of them as well as Frank Archer."

"I see…" Pride looked over at Envy and grinned. "I have a pleasant job for you."

"What?"

* * *

There's chapter 9, I know the homunculi would never help Riza, don't tell me that. They help her in this story. 


	10. Hope visits Roy and Ed

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I really don't. If I did then I can tell you this, I'd know how it would end and I'd have completed the entire story by now.

* * *

Chapter 10 (Hope visits Roy and Ed)

Frank Archer walked outside of Central HQ with a scowl etched across his face. He shouted as he was tossed aside by an explosion, he looked up to see Kimblee staring down upon him, "You idiot, are you _trying_ to get yourself killed by Raven! Why the hell do you constantly talk about his niece like she's some goddamn object! She is just a piece of trash, true, but at least shut up when around Raven, you got that!" Archer groaned as he rubbed his head.

"Yeah, I hear you just fine…"

"Good, now let's get back to the lair…Mustang and the others still haven't revealed the location of that damn sword."

"Pleasant job my ass," Archer said under his breath. Kimblee looked over to him and raised his eyebrow.

"What did you say?"

"I said nothing at all!" Archer stood up and followed Kimblee to the ruins of Ishbal and into a large cave. "Wow…Ishbal really lost it…What sword are you talking about Kimblee?"

"Have you gone daft? The sword that my girlfriend, Salacia wants! The one that can cut through anything and is flame capable, that's the sword I'm talking about."

"Right, I wasn't thinking properly. One's mind is sort of shot for a while when someone…oh I don't know…tries to blow their friend up!"

"I do it all the time, I was sure you got used to it by now."

"Yeah…right…"

"Well there are a few rooms down the hall, Winry and Havoc down there, Roy and Ed through this door."

"So, are we going to torture them?" Kimblee looked at Archer and shrugged.

"I'm going to leave you to do whatever you want…If you think you can torture them into revealing that sword then be my guest. Damn those stubborn bastards…" Archer sighed as Kimblee walked away.

"I think I'll check on Havoc and Winry first…I don't really feel like seeing the other two right now…" Archer walked into the room where Havoc and Winry sat. Havoc looked pretty beaten up, it was obvious he tried to fight back, Winry on the other hand had a few cuts and bruises but that was about it for her.

"Archer, what the hell do you want, I want you to get out of here!" Havoc shouted. Archer put his hands up and smiled.

"No need to worry."

"You better not be touching Riza!"

"How is Edward?" Winry asked with concern in her eyes. Archer's looked away and frowned.

"I can't tell that to you right now…"

"Why can't you tell me!"

"I would if I could." Archer started to turn around and was stopped by Havoc calling him a bastard. "Is that anyway to talk to someone like me?" Archer smirked, "I won't do anything at all to Riza, trust me. I will however speak to her about your location."

"What?" Archer left Havoc and Winry with confused expressions on their faces. Archer then started to walk into the room Kimblee said belonged to Roy and Ed.

"I'm sure they don't look to bad…" Archer crossed his arms and sighed. "Havoc and Winry looked half decent."

"Archer, it's time to give Roy and Ed more treatment," Raven said as he walked to Archer. "You and Kimblee, come with me."

"Okay, that sounds fine to me."

"Good, I'm thankful that you don't complain when you know I'm already ticked off with you."

"Really, and what happened?" Raven glared at Archer before opening the door. Archer's eyes widened when he saw the looks on Roy and Ed's face. Looks of a tiny amount of hope were present in their sad eyes and they had blood and sweat dripping from head to toe. Kimblee walked into the room and pat Archer on the back.

"You realize I'm never going to talk," Roy said with a low growl.

"Okay, maybe Edward will talk," Kimblee stated as he clasped his hands together. Ed screamed in agony as an explosion licked his body.

"Stop that!" Roy exclaimed.

"If you choose to tell us the location of this weapon, then we will end the torture," Raven stated.

"Never…"

"So be it…" Raven punched Roy in the stomach causing Roy to vomit up blood. He then kicked Roy in the abdomen before kicking him in the legs. "You see, I enjoy torturing the hell out of you, its fun."

"Damn you, Raven…"

"What about you Edward, what do you know about the sword?" Kimblee asked. Ed merely spat at Kimblee, "I see…Well then…" Kimblee punched Ed in the side of the face. He then grabbed Ed's braid and pulled it back causing Ed to hit his head against the rock wall.

"Damn!" Ed exclaimed as Kimblee punched Ed in the abdomen. He then took a small razor from his pocket and smirked. "What are you doing with that thing, you better put that up…"

"I'm going to cut you up." Ed let out a gasp as he felt the sharp razor cut into his arm. Kimblee cut down Ed's arm and let Ed grunt.

"Stop doing this to him!" Roy shouted. "There is no point, don't you realize that neither of us know anything about the sword!" Raven grabbed Roy's throat and got close to his face.

"Listen up Roy, we know you know something about that damned sword. I think you know more than you're actually saying, so until we know what you know, you will be tortured. I don't really give a damn if you die or not."

"Screw you, Raven…" Raven smirked and punched Roy in the abdomen once more.

"Have a good talk, we'll see you two later when you plan on revealing the location of the sword that you own." Raven and Kimblee walked out of the room and Archer rubbed his forehead.

"If they want a sword…why go after these two?" Archer asked himself. Roy and Ed stared at Archer and growled slightly.

"Archer, what the hell are you still doing here?" Roy asked. "You better not be doing _anything_ to Riza because if you so much as lay a finger on her then I will kill you! You better stay the hell away from her!" Archer chuckled and walked over to Roy.

"How can you kill me, Flame Alchemist, you're sort of tied up and…nauseating at the moment. Oh and don't worry, I promise I'm not doing anything to Riza. However, I think she and the others would be a little ticked off if I started avoiding them right now and I really don't want to make them mad."

"You realize we won't ever tell you what you want to know about the sword," Ed said quietly.

"Don't worry, I could care less about some damn sword…" Archer turned to walk away but was stopped by Ed.

"Why aren't you beating us up?" Archer turned to look at Ed and sighed.

"Given the beating you just took, I'm generous enough to not beat you up anymore…" Ed smirked and shook his head.

"You…You're not Frank Archer, are you?" Archer crossed his arms and frowned.

"What makes you think that?"

"That's not something he would say. Archer craves more blood, he doesn't care how beat up we get, he would beat us up more. He would definitely beat up Roy and make some smart comment about taking advantage of Riza, you didn't say anything to that extent." Archer walked over to Ed and smirked.

"Well, I can say for one thing, that is a good assumption, pipsqueak. However I can't be too sure that you're correct on that. No, I don't intend on harming Riza Hawkeye any, it's just not something I feel like doing. You wouldn't believe the stuff that Fuhrer and his damn secretary want to do in order to make amends and enacting vengeance. They seem to want to redeem themselves by helping your woman as well as slaughtering the killers of Dante. Well, I'll be seeing you two around." Ed smirked as Archer walked away.

"Roy, I think we may be getting some help after all…Help from unexpected people, but help nonetheless."

"You honestly think that?" Roy asked.

"Yes, because I am sure the person we just saw was Envy."

"If so then what he just said…Pride and Sloth are involved as well?"

"They apparently want to make amends for their crimes."

"Heh, I'll believe that one when I see them actually trying to help us…" When Archer left the cave he broke his transformation and turned to Envy.

"Well, what did you see in there, Envy?" Lust asked as she walked up, she was told to follow Envy so in case anything happened to him, she would at least know where the hideout was. "Did you see anything, or learn anything at all?"

"Yeah quite a bit actually," Envy said as he and Lust walked off. "The stuff I saw in there…the look of pain and suffering in the eyes of both the Fullmetal Alchemist and the Flame Alchemist. They had looks of near hopelessness…normally I would enjoy seeing this but I wasn't the one inflicting the massive pain on them, and when I say massive, I mean _massive_ pain. If you could take all the blood found on them, the floor, the wall and the ceiling and put it in a bathtub, you could literally take a bloodbath."

"Damn…So it's that bad in there, is it?"

"Yeah…I couldn't help but hint that help was coming."

"Right, sometimes that's about all anybody should do in this situation."

"Yeah, oh, I didn't see her in there but Kimblee has a girlfriend named Salacia. I think they're looking for the sword because she wants it and they think Mustang is the one that owns it or knows of its location. Hell, if they wanted a sword, why don't they just try to go after Pride?"

"True, what's so special about this blade anyway?"

"I think it can cut through anything and is flame compatible."

"Yeah, Pride's sword can't do that…So, we need to tell all of this to Riza and the others."

"She's not going to be completely happy about it either. I know she's going to hate having to hear about Roy in there…Do we _have_ to tell her about his condition?"

"They want to know everything about what's happening. We can't leave out the seriousness of the matter. That all determines how fast we work."

"You won't be telling anybody anything, and definitely not Riza," someone stated. Envy and Lust turned around to see Salacia standing behind them.

"Who exactly are you?" Envy asked.

"I'm Salacia, and I'm a bit ticked off that you snuck into our hideout."

"Heh, yeah that's too damn bad then, Salacia, I figured I had an invitation to go inside there."

"Like hell you did!" Envy leapt out of the way as water was sent flying toward him.

"I wish it was actually hot out…then you might dry up!" Envy charged toward Salacia and punched her in the abdomen. "Help me out here if you want, Lust!"

"Okay, that's fine by me," Lust said as she shot a nail through Salacia's arm.

"Crap!" Salacia exclaimed. She leapt back and clasped her hands together, several spikes appeared around Envy and Lust. They shielded their faces as the water spikes shot into them. Envy and Lust stood calmly and growled slightly at Salacia. "So you two are homunculi, similar to Raven. I'm going to have fun killing you two off."

"You won't be killing us," Lust said grimly. She charged toward Salacia and swiped her nails at her. Salacia jumped back but was still cut across the chest by Lust's nails. "I would say if anything, we will be killing you."

"Try your best not to make me laugh." Lust raised her eyebrow and jumped back as a large water spike shot toward her.

"I wonder how Sloth would fight her," Lust stated with a small chuckle.

"Okay woman, just stop fighting and maybe, just maybe, we'll let you live," Envy said with a chuckle. "I'm guessing you've never fought a homunculus before…Plus, two homunculi at the same time." Salacia growled and charged toward Envy. She threw a punch that Envy skillfully dodged, he then grabbed her arm and spun her into a wall.

"Maybe you should consider fighting each other to the death," Salacia said as she stood up.

"Sorry, couldn't do that. I could never hurt a friend who has never harmed me, I just couldn't bring myself to do that and that is saying something." Salacia's eyes widened briefly but she shrugged it off and crossed her arms. "Of course, you I can kill. Go ahead and try to make my day."

"With pleasure," Envy said as he charged toward Salacia and kicked her in the head. Salacia growled and hit Envy back with a wave of water. "So why exactly were you not in there torturing Roy?"

"That's none of your damn business, I don't have the time to do it because I'm always busy dealing with bastards such as yourself."

"So I see...I'm often busy dealing with alchemists like you!"

"Yeah, well you're a murderer…"

"Heh, and you think you're any different from me? Just what is your background, I'm guessing nothing happened to you at all."

"Shut the hell up, you don't know anything! I was abused by everybody!"

"Abused…by everyone?"

"Well…maybe not my older sister and Roy but still, pretty much!"

"I guess you killed them out of revenge then…Roy didn't even hurt you either, wow, you're a bitch." Salacia's eyes widened and then narrowed.,

"Yeah, and I'm going to go ahead and kill you now."

"No you're not. Here's what will happen, Lust and I will take our leave now. Bye." Salacia watched as Envy and Lust turned and dashed off with a large amount of speed.

"Well Lust, we know a little about our fourth kidnapper!" Envy said quickly.

"Yeah, she's an abused brat…that's what we know about her."

* * *

There's the chapter! 


	11. Brenda and Scar Join the Battle

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I really don't. If I did then I can tell you this, I'd know how it would end and I'd have completed the entire story by now.

* * *

Chapter 11 (Brenda and Scar join the rescue)

Later that day, Scar walked into a bar where Raven was sitting, "That guy looks a little out of place here," Scar said quietly. Scar walked over and sat next to Raven, "How are you today, sir?"

"I'm fine and you?" Raven asked as he drank from his drink. "I saw this cute rabbit along the side of the road earlier. I've always had a thing for animals…"

"Do you own any pets?"

"No, but I practically raised this one kid who was abused by her family." Raven took another drink from the whiskey he had and watched the shadows diminish. Alcohol, it was a truth serum of sorts to him and something that rendered him unable to use alchemy. Scar raised his eyebrow and thought back to what Brenda had been talking about.

"So you're a father?"

"No, I'm a criminal mastermind. My name is Raven Hawkeye, dumbass."

"I see…I've heard that name somewhere before."

"Perhaps you've heard of my niece, Riza Hawkeye…The woman that damn flame alchemist loves and vice versa."

"The Flame Alchemist…he's been missing for a few days…"

"No he hasn't…We've been torturing him to reveal the location of some special sword that Salacia wants. It is supposed to cut through anything and be flame compatible…I hear Riza's trying to find Mustang but she won't, if anything, I'll see to it she dies before she ever sees him again." Scar's eyes widened when he heard Raven speak of the sword, he knew what sword Raven spoke of, and it was the one Brenda had."

"Has the Flame Alchemist revealed this sword?"

"No…He's stubborn but I have a feeling he knows exactly where it is." Raven saw the shadows completely gone, now if he had to attack anyone, he couldn't. "Damn…Having a liking for your weakness is a problem."

"You don't get drunk off of drinking that stuff?"

"No, I've never been drunk. The alcohol just diminishes my shadows and absorbs the darkness that is inside of me…It renders my powers useless…"

"I see…and it appears that's not all it does…"

"No, it makes me reveal my plans, among other things. Who are you by the way?"

"I am nobody, it is not of your benefit to know who I am."

"My niece thinks she can help save Roy, but in reality she won't be able to do a thing. There's Kimblee on my side as well as that damn womanizer, Archer. Salacia herself is fairly powerful, although she never seems to want to watch Roy be tortured. It's understandable if she gets a little queasy, she deals with Havoc and Winry but those two don't have many wounds. Dare I say it, but I'm wondering if she's getting softer…"

"This woman, Salacia, you say she was abused?"

"Yes and I pretty much manipulated her into killing her family, the Leona family, out of revenge." This confirmed everything for Scar, he knew Brenda's last name well and now he knew that Raven was the criminal she spoke of once.

"How long have you been killing?"

"I've been killing for oh…several years actually."

"I see…So you're a hardened killer, is Salacia a hardened killer?"

"No…It's almost hard to see but that girl has a soft spot in her that has never vanished. There's always been something like guilt that still lies in her."

"Why would there be guilt?"

"Probably from killing her eldest sister, and now Roy is being tortured."

"This would affect anything…"

"Eh, it probably would make her feel guilty since her eldest sister and Roy were the ones that were nice to her. However, slowly but surely, that soft spot will vanish entirely. It always happens with whoever becomes a killer, they lose that soft spot until the darkness overtakes their heart." Scar nodded and stood up, he started to walk away and looked back.

"You should watch your alcohol consumption my friend. You never know what you might reveal and who you could be revealing it to." Scar smirked as he walked away. Raven turned his eyes downward, he finished his whiskey and though it would take some time, the shadows were starting to return.

"Damn it…"

-------------

Brenda started to cut a slice of pie when she looked out the window and saw Scar walking down the street, "There's Scar. He always seems to come when I'm making pie…Or maybe I'm making it too often." Brenda set the knife down and went to open the door just as Scar was about to knock.

"You have great timing," Scar said quietly.

"You want some pie?" Brenda asked. Scar raised his eyebrow and sighed.

"You really love pie, you know that right?"

"So I make it often, yeah it's a pig out food. I hate chocolate and most other sweet stuff like that so cake and pie always works nicely. So, are you going to come in or stand outside the whole time?" Scar shrugged as he stepped inside the house, Brenda set a slice of pie on a plate and handed it to Scar. "Eat up, I shouldn't eat the entire thing on my own."

"Thank you…you know the Flame Alchemist has been missing, right?"

"Yes, I believe everyone knew that Colonel Mustang was missing."

"Salacia, that's your sister's name, correct?"

"Yes." Brenda started to cut another slice of pie for herself.

"I found something out about both of them…" Brenda's eyes widened as she cut a large gash in the pie. She quickly turned around to look at Scar.

"What have you heard! Where are they!"

"I don't know where…I do know this, Raven Hawkeye has Roy Mustang and a few of his subordinates. Salacia is with Raven as well as Frank Archer and Kimblee…They're torturing them for a special sword that Salacia wants." Brenda moved her hand to grip the handle of her sword.

"What about the sword…"

"It's supposed to be a sword that can slice through anything and is flame compatible."

"Damn…I'm guessing with Roy's stubbornness he hasn't revealed anything…If he would then they'd be free!"

"You'd rather those people come after you?"

"I'd rather them come try to kill me rather than trying to torture Roy!"

"I don't think Salacia will let them harm him too badly…"

"What?"

"Raven has a problem with alcohol…he told me that it Salacia still retains a bit of good in her heart and perhaps feels guilt thinking that she killed you…She probably wishes not for Roy's death."

"It's understandable you know. Roy _was_ one of the only people that ever treated her kindly."

"I'd imagine he feels bad about her being there then…"

"Probably…but you say you don't know where they are?"

"I do not…"

"Crap. Is there anything else?"

"He says that Riza Hawkeye is trying to find and save Roy."

"I see…"

"That may be expected. However, she is going against a criminal as you say, like Raven and it would be hazardous. He is also her uncle."

"Yeah…Scar, do you want a chance to redeem yourself?"

"Sure, that would be nice."

"Then remember when I said the day you redeemed yourself for your crimes would be the day you saved a state alchemist or your worst enemy. Well, how about I help you redeem yourself by dragging you along with me in an attempt to save Roy." Brenda picked up a cup of tea that she had and took a drink out.

"I won't refuse, I'll gladly do that."

"Good," Brenda gave a small smirk. "I'd drag you kicking and screaming if you said no, anyway."

"I would actually like to see you try dragging me…" Scar watched Brenda grab her sword and walk over to him with a menacing smile. "On second thought, I wouldn't…"

"I didn't think so, now, let's go find Riza Hawkeye."

"Are we sure she won't try and kill me in the process?"

"From what I hear through the letters sent by Roy…No, she has a compassionate and soft heart, despite also being very stern. I think you're in the clear as long as you're serious and honestly want to save Roy's life."

"I speak the truth when I say I want to help him." Scar took a bite of the pie and gave a slight smile. "This is good."

-------------------

"Sir, how do you feel?" Sloth asked as she stepped into the office. Pride was sitting at his desk and looking down at a letter.

"Unsure of how everything will go down in the end...I'm sad because we've lost Dante and I was hoping for you to become human...I didn't care about myself. I know you're not happy as you are now and I want you to be human."

"Don't worry so much about that, sir…I don't care if I'm a homunculus or not. Sure living forever will be boring but at least it'll be spent with you."

"I won't live for ever, I'm the only homunculus that actually _ages_ for crying out loud. I know that one day I'll die off…Envy and Lust will probably die also, if anything from killing each other…I don't want you to have to be alone forever."

"I'm not alone, sir. I mean…I'll manage, hell each of us has some years on our lives." Pride stood up and sighed.

"Yeah, chances are once we save Roy Mustang, he'll kill me."

"Why would he kill the man that tries to save him, sir?"

"I'm a homunculus, therefore I _must_ be evil and therefore he'll kill me…Like a fool I followed Dante's will…My heart was darkened at one point of time."

"I think maybe all of our hearts have been darkened at one point of time or another, sir…"

"Please call me by my name…My human name, not my damn homunculus name. You don't need to call me by my title."

"It's a term of respect, sir…"

"Not when I hand this letter in, Juliet."

"My name is Sloth…" Sloth looked down with a frown and a saddened look. "Though I hate that name…" Pride walked over to Sloth and placed his hands on her arms.

"Then don't refer to yourself as Sloth. I'll call you Juliet and you can call me by my name, Bradley."

"What about King?"

"I like Bradley for a human first name better…Listen, you said that we all had darkened hearts but I don't believe that for a moment."

"Of course we did, every one of us."

"Envy, Lust, Gluttony, Wrath, Greed and even I had a darkened heart at one point of time. I'm trying to redeem myself here and I hope one day I'll find a way to make you a human with your own life and your own memories. However, you have never had a hardened or a black heart. You've always been the one of us with a soft heart, I don't know if it's because of the human you once were but you've always had a soft heart. Maybe you're a little sarcastic and maybe you didn't want to fight against Raven the other day when he attacked Roy but that wasn't because of evil, which might have been because of fear."

"Are you saying that I'm a fearful person, _sir?"_

"We all have a little bit of fear inside of us. Try to admit that much, Juliet."

"You want me to be human…I don't even care anymore. Besides, whether you age or not, you won't die!"

"Homunculi don't die of old age, that's a fact. However, you wanted so much to be a human with your own memories and your own life. I want to grant you that human life, hell you may have artificial memories in place of everything up to the point of being a homunculus and maybe you'll retain some memories of being a homunculus."

"I would rather you become human though than me…"

"I'm not important, I've committed unspeakable acts. I caused a war to begin several years ago all for the sake of a goddamn stone."

"Yeah, but Dante was the one who ordered you to do that. Plus she wouldn't have made any of us human."

"I realized that, I figured that much out a while back…" Pride walked over to his desk and picked up the letter on the desk. "I should give this to General Grumman…" Pride and Sloth looked over to see Envy, Lust and Riza walk into the office. Riza had tears on her face, Envy and Lust had told her everything, all the way down to how bad Roy and Ed looked.

"Pride…Sloth…We found them," Envy said as he crossed his arms. He looked to Sloth who had a saddened look on her face, "What's wrong with Sloth?" Lust walked over to Sloth and sighed.

"Are you alright, Sloth?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sloth said with a small smile. "So, you found out where the Colonel is at, that's good."

"We also learned of some sword they want…I'm not sure what it is though. There's also this woman named Salacia and she was weird," Envy stated.

"I know I've heard that name before," Riza said as she crossed her arms.

"You have, she was my sister," A voice from behind stated. Everyone looked over with wide eyes and saw Brenda and Scar standing in the doorway.

"Oh no, it's Scar!" Riza said quickly. Her hand reached for the gun but Brenda held up her hand.

"It is okay, Scar is redeeming himself for his sins. It appears that those two homunculi desire the same thing. I'm sorry, I sort of have a problem with eavesdropping," Brenda said as she smiled at Pride and Sloth. "Oh, and are you Sloth? I must say, Juliet is a much nicer name than Sloth. Some of my greatest vices, eavesdropping and pie…I blame that on emotional trauma of course. Pie is my guilt food."

"Okay, but who are you?" Riza asked.

"I am Brenda Leona."

"Roy's childhood friend…Heh, I have a confession to make…I was actually jealous of you back then." Brenda raised her eyebrow and shook her head at Riza.

"You shouldn't have been…Anyway, we're going to save Roy, are we not?"

"Yes of course we are!"

* * *

There's the chapter! Hope you've enjoyed it. 


	12. Discussing the Enemy's Weakness

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I really don't. If I did then I can tell you this, I'd know how it would end and I'd have completed the entire story by now.

* * *

Chapter 12 (Discussing the enemy's weakness)

The next day everyone met up in the Colonel's office, Pride did not desire to make the meeting place in the Fuhrer's office. Brenda was the first one to speak up. "I have one slight problem, I hate explosions…So this Kimblee guy…one of you is going to have to fight him."

"Okay, we can do that," Riza said with a smile.

"Another thing…I hate rain, and I hate showers…"

"Why do you hate the rain."

"Do any of you guys know the full story?" Everyone shook their head and Brenda sighed. She had brought pie for everyone to eat of course, she took a slice of the pie and began to eat it. She craved it whenever she thought of her past. "I was training at the school I would soon teach when I got a call from the school principal saying that the cheerleading squad had all been murdered. Mesi, my second youngest sister had all the water drained from her body…Something told me that it was Salacia and I feared that she was actually the one that did it…I didn't want to believe it and so I put myself in a state of denial."

"Why would she do all this though?" Pride asked.

"Revenge was the reason. Roy and I were the only people that were nice to her, we never beat her up or spoke harsh words to her. Everyone else mistreated her. When I arrived at the house I found my third youngest sister lying in the living room floor in a pool of her own blood…" Brenda began eating the pie quicker and everyone watched with wide eyes as she grabbed another slice. "My mother had been drowned in the bathtub but the most shocking and gut wrenching sight was my father. He was in the shower with several holes in him and blood everywhere inside the shower. When I walked outside I found Salacia drowning our brother."

"That's horrible," Riza said quietly.

"I tried to ask her to stop, I said I would forgive her if she stopped the killing. She wanted to go with Raven, he was the one that told her this was all the 'only way' for her to be free from her abuse. She fought against me and both of us inflicted a scar on the other…My life was saved by the doctors living next door to me."

"I'm so sorry about your past and all that happened. It's unfortunate that Salacia is the one doing this."

"She wants this sword…" Brenda took out her sword and showed it to everyone. "This is a sword that I got when I saved Roy's life. He fell into a lake that was rushing out some hole and I jumped in to get him. I grabbed onto this sword which was stuck in the wall and it came out of the wall. I ignored it until Roy actually woke up and told me that I had it next to me…It was one of my fonder memories, in fact I still have the sword that was broken. I had a broken sword that day thanks to some idiot in one of my classes."

"Well I'm thankful you saved Roy's life. Without him I think I would…I don't know what I'd do…"

"You probably couldn't live without him, right?" Sloth asked with her eyes turned downward. Pride coughed and crossed his arms as Riza looked over and nodded her head.

"Yeah…I love him more than anything in this world. If he dies then…I die. I don't think I could live on without him."

"Don't worry about it," Brenda said with a comforting smile. "We'll save him. Besides we have four homunculi with us."

"I'd prefer you not remind us that we're homunculi," Pride said in a quiet but gruff voice.

"Well okay, that's fine…We have four people with very good powers on our team. Along with Scar and myself, then there is you, the best sniper in Amestris!"

"Thanks," Riza said with a smile.

"You know what Pride?" Envy asked with a slight groan. "I'm honestly proud to be a homunculi, I've lived four hundred years and haven't died yet!"

"I know I won't live four hundred years, I'm the only one that ages. When I get too old then my homunculus powers will be weak and pretty much anything could…"

"Anything could kill you, Pride," Sloth said quietly. She wouldn't admit that it hurt to think of Pride dying and leaving her to live alone for so long. She was honestly afraid that Roy and Ed would kill him as well as Envy and Lust. Brenda and Riza looked at Sloth for a brief moment and looked away.

"Brenda, did Roy ever talk about me?" Riza asked.

"Yes."

"Did he…Did he ever love me?"

"That's something that I am not fit to answer for you, only he can do that. You should tell him that you love him."

"I-I didn't say I was in love with him or anything!"

"You do realize how much you act like you are, right?" Envy said flatly. Riza blushed lightly and shook her head.

"Okay, so maybe I_do_ love him."

"There is no 'maybe' in that statement and you know it."

"What do you know about love?" Lust asked as she crossed her arms. "I'm the one who would know more about it."

"Hey, I'm Envy, I know quite a bit about stuff."

"You're also the one of us with the hardest and blackest heart."

"So what, I'm doing something for the good of another right now!"

"Yet you complain."

"Oh shut up…"

"Hey, Envy, I have a question," Riza stated. Envy looked over at Riza and sighed. "Ed doesn't need a transmutation circle, couldn't he transmute something and get out of there? Was there something preventing him from escaping?"

"His palms were touching the air and wrists strapped to the wall. There's nothing he could transmute. Roy also was without his gloves that he always wears…I saw Havoc without his guns and Winry…was she ever even a fighter?"

"Sadly, no she was not."

"I didn't think so, it wouldn't have made much difference if she was…"

"Envy, couldn't you have helped them to get out? Couldn't you have crushed their straps or something?"

"They're kind of off the ground and as bloody as they are, I'd be a bit afraid of them dying when they crashed to the ground. Plus when I went there I was only there on an observation basis, it would not have been good to free them at the time."

"Envy, do you think you could go back there and tell Roy its okay to reveal the location of my sword?" Brenda asked.

"If I did that they might kill him because they wouldn't have anymore use for him…I also thought Riza's uncle hated him."

"Envy…Salacia will not let Raven kill Roy…I feel like she wouldn't do that."

"Either way, I'm not going back there alone…I'd rather _not_ run into Raven and get sucked up into that black hole of his before actually managing to inflict any damage whatsoever on them!"

"He does make a good point," Lust said quietly. "There is a man who creates massive explosions…He killed Wrath of course Riza here says Wrath was already beat up enough by Edward. There's a womanizer who is pretty much psycho, Salacia is an angry person…Not evil, just angry at the world…That's what it sounds like to me…Then you have the ruthless, vile criminal known as Raven. All four put together might actually be enough to kill Envy if he went alone."

"I'd rather not discus how these freaks could kill me…Besides, we're talking about _me!_ I don't die so easily."

"That's true but we're still looking out for you…So what can everyone do?" Brenda asked as she crossed her arms.

"Lust here has a couple of weird nails," Envy said with a shrug. "I'm a damn good fighter and can turn my arms into spikes. Sloth is a watery type of person and Pride is a swordsman who probably would rather have two eyes than one…"

"I don't care about my eyes," Pride said quietly. "Also I _can_ see out of my covered eye. This patch only hides the tattoo…"

"Right…"

"Well, I'm good with guns," Riza said with a smile. "I know that's enough to help out quite a bit."

"Yeah, and I think Scar blows things up," Lust said dryly. Scar narrowed his eyes and looked at Lust.

"Yes, I blow things up...How about I blow up?" Scar stated harshly. "Decomposition…really it works more when I know what I'm blowing up. Meaning my arm probably won't work with someone like Raven who I think we've found that he has no organs but is only filled with darkness."

"If my uncle's body is cut up badly enough, the darkness will leave," Riza said as she crossed her arms. "We would need to keep him from regenerating though. All homunculi can do that I believe…If the darkness inside him vanishes entirely then he is left with no bodily organs and nothing in their place to keep him alive. In the end he dies."

"Right, and he also revealed to me while drinking alcohol that it is his weakness," Scar said quietly. "If he drinks alcohol he pretty much acquires loose lips as well as loses the ability to use his powers and therefore it makes mutilation easier."

"So, we're basically saying that Raven doesn't have any…brains?" Envy asked with a slight snicker. This made everyone in the room start laughing.

"So we've figured that much out about Raven," Brenda said quietly. "I should tell everyone that I am a flame alchemist as well. It is because of me that Roy is in danger probably. Salacia knew Roy was a flame alchemist and she thinks I'm dead…That means Roy was going to be their target and if he didn't have the sword they're going to torture him until he tells them of the true location. He knows that I have the sword, he's known it since he was twelve years of age."

"Right…So we want to get him before they torture him any longer and ultimately…kill him." Envy looked over at Riza who was looking down and clenching her pant cloth in her hands. Envy didn't want to say how close to death Roy actually looked, he told her he was in pretty bad shape but he didn't mention the fact that Roy looked ready to kick the bucket and normally he wouldn't care but since Riza needed to be able to fight he figured telling her about Roy's status would make her lose the capability to fight. "Let's see if we can figure anything else out about the others…"

"Kimblee uses explosions," Riza said. "We all know this. However that's probably all he uses and I don't think he is a powerful hand to hand fighter."

"So he should be the easiest to kill."

"No, that would probably be Archer."

"Oh right…the sex fiend…"

"I guess you could call him that if you wanted to…Anyway, he usually only uses his guns, I suspect we could get him down very easily." Riza crossed her arms and smirked. "I know I could bring him down easily, knowing how much he wants to seduce me…as disgusting as it is…"

"That right there will be his downfall," Envy said with a smirk. "I love using other people's weaknesses against them."

"Yeah but I don't really want his hands to touch me…I know he'll try to touch me in places that I've never been touched before and those are only reserved for the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with…"

"So then to use his weakness, his obsession with you…Who would do that?" Everyone looked over to Envy with grins on their faces. "What…Why are you looking at me like that! Oh no…oh no! No, no, no!"

"Come on Envy, you're the only one that could pull of a nearly perfect version of Riza," Pride said with a smirk.

"Yeah, and if you did it, at least Riza doesn't have to worry about that pervert feeling her up," Lust said calmly.

"He'll be feeling _me_ up!" Envy shouted.

"Don't worry, we'd kill him before he did anything to you," Brenda stated.

"Yeah…or maybe we'll actually let him take advantage of you for a short amount of time," Scar said jokingly.

"Hey pal! I do_not_ appreciate the mental images that would put in my head! What is this, gang up on Envy day!" Envy exclaimed.

"Yeah, I think that's what they're doing," Sloth said with a chuckle. "Anyway let's move on to Kimblee…what weaknesses does he have other than low physical strength?"

"Here's what I found when I was talking to him the other day," Envy said quietly though still angry. "He may fear Raven, he seems domineering over Archer but still close to the man. If we take out Archer then he probably would be less violent. Or maybe more…I don't know. He doesn't run very much, I've seen that much and I think he'd be a bit crazier without Archer around. His explosions seem more focused when he's calmer and maybe more out of control when he's angry."

"That's like me when I'm angry," Brenda said as she crossed her arms. "My flame attack and sword skills are out of control and I don't know what I'm hitting or where anything is going."

"Right, so if we took out Archer first and surrounded him, outnumbered him then he'd probably start going insane. It would be best for homunculi to face him then I think because there might be a lot of dodging that would be necessary…Although I think anyone could face him. I would think they need to have good speed though."

"Okay…we'll keep this information in mind. Now talking about Salacia…my sister, she's a water alchemist and that's it. She can't fight in the dry heat. I don't want to have to fight her though…For justice, I would give her two options…"

"Redeem herself and turn from the path of evil and save her life or stay on the path of evil, losing her soul and her life," Scar continued for Brenda. Everyone looked down sadly, Salacia had only started killing because of Raven's influence. They weren't sure if she was going to kill if she never met Raven but they didn't like what the outcome of the situation looked like.

"Scar, you're good on physical strength, right?" Brenda asked.

"Yeah, I am…I don't really need to use my powers, I don't feel like sacrificing anymore lives to this arm."

"Would you like to release those souls for something good? In releasing those souls you can do something good for another person?"

"I suppose, but what are you suggesting?"

"Would you allow me to release those souls from your arm? In the process though, you may end up losing tattoo on your arm." Pride looked over at Brenda and Scar as the two stood up.

"I'll allow it…These souls…these lives that I've destroyed need to be free."

"Okay, come with me into this room." Scar nodded as he followed Brenda into the next room.

"Sloth, go with them," Pride said.

"What?"

"I want you to go with them into that room…Don't ask questions, Brenda will know what it is she should do…"

"Okay…I guess…" Sloth got up and walked into the room. Envy and Lust looked over at Pride and sighed.

"So, you realize what you're doing?" Envy asked. "You're sure you want to go through with that?"

"I want nothing more than to do this for her…I know she doesn't care but I want her to be happy."

"It is admirable I guess," Riza stated as they all looked to the closed door.

* * *

There's the chapter for this, I hope you enjoyed it. 


	13. Roy and Salacia talk

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I really don't. If I did then I can tell you this, I'd know how it would end and I'd have completed the entire story by now.

* * *

Chapter 13 (Roy and Salacia talk)

Roy opened his eyes and let out a small groan, Ed had been moved from the room so now he wouldn't have anyone to talk to. Nobody would be there to bear the pain with him, "I only hope they will live…" In another room Edward was depressed once more.

"It's looking pretty damn bad for the Colonel," Ed said quietly. "I don't know how much more he can take before his body gives in to all the pain…The Colonel's going to die if he gets tortured anymore…I don't know why he can't just tell the location of the sword. Wouldn't it save his life? Why does he even care about me, the last thing he asked for was that all the goddamn torturing would go to him and not to me or any of the other three…I think Raven was willing to do that! Damn it…I'm worthless to him and everyone else, I have no goddamn family anymore!"

"I suggest you stop talking like that, Elric." Ed looked over to see Salacia walking in the room. "It would do you use to say such a thing."

"It's true, I have no more family…my mom died long ago, my father left and I thought he was gone but no, he was murdered instead! Now my brother's dead…"

"Your father…He wasn't Hoenheim Elric, was he?" Ed nodded his head and Salacia let out a sigh. "I see…Do you desire to know his killer, Elric?"

"Yes."

"Raven was the man that killed your father."

"Raven!"

"Yes. However to say that you don't have a family…Don't speak out like that."

"Like you're one to talk, you _slaughtered_ your family!" Salacia slapped Ed across the face. "What the hell was that for!"

"I felt like it…As for family, your birth family isn't required to be your only family. My older sister, Mesi…Her family was the cheerleading squad she was on. They were her family, they were her friends…I did her a favor by killing her along with them. You don't think you have family left, but you do…Whether you know it or not you have a mother who is gentle and kind, a father who cares about you and tries to protect you."

"I don't see them, care to alert me as to whom those people would be?"

"I'll give you a hint, one of them is a flame alchemist…"

"Okay, well if you're referring to the Colonel then you're killing off my family."

"Mustang isn't dead yet."

"He's dying! He's dying because you're too goddamn greedy and want to know where some goddamn sword is that doesn't even matter in this world!"

"Shut the hell up…I _was_ coming to bring you your breakfast but you really don't deserve it!"

"Why do you give a damn if I eat?"

"Raven says that each of you needs to eat and drink, even if it's meager portions. Raven doesn't want anyone dying before we learn about where that sword is."

"Heh, I know you found out that Envy was here, so why did you just move us to individual rooms rather than change hideouts?"

"I have my reasons. You aren't getting any food either, so starve!"

"Hey, hold on! I'm thirsty and hungry!"

"How unfortunate, you shouldn't have been such a smartass and maybe I would have given you your food. You know nothing about anything…" Salacia's voice lowered to a quiet tone. "Not only am I a collector but my oldest sister, whom I 'slaughtered' by your words…and I only stabbed her through the chest with a spike that doesn't constitute as slaughtering…but she used to collect swords…maybe I want a sword as a memento rather than this goddamn scar on the side of my face that I got from her sword!"

"Is your sister a flame alchemist?"

"She's dead you bastard. You said you were thirsty?"

"Yes."

"Fine." Salacia clasped her hands together and splashed water onto Ed before walking out of the room.

"Hey, that's wetting me, not giving me a drink!" Salacia walked into Roy's room and started to bring the bread out. Roy looked to her and frowned.

"Salacia…Did they hurt you?" Roy asked.

"What do you mean Roy?"

"You never answered my question…It was the last thing I spoke to you…remember?"

"Yeah…so what?"

"Did they hurt you again?"

"Yeah they hurt me that morning." Salacia clenched her fists. "Avani shouted words of hate and Mesi watched as Feng beat me up. What of it?"

"I'm sorry. It doesn't change anything, saying sorry…However, I know that Brenda and I were trying so desperately to get you out of that house. She was so close…Brenda was about to own that school she had and when she started teaching there she would move there and get you out of that damn household. I wanted to say that to you that day, Salacia. Brenda would have had that place the very next three days and when she did…she was going to free you from that wretched home you had been stuck in. A year before, when we got that new sword of hers we made a promise that she would make things better for you. For that whole year she trained so damn hard…" Salacia's eyes widened as she prepared Roy's meal. She shrugged it off as Roy continued. "During that one year she had become the best student and the instructor was fixing to retire and give that place to her."

"It doesn't matter anymore, Roy." Salacia picked up the food and carried it over to Roy. She tried to ignore his bloody body. "None of that matters anymore, she's dead now…I killed her…I killed my favorite sister with my own hands and because of it I sold my soul…I'm evil now!"

"Don't say that…you're not evil…"

"Damn it, of course I am…I've murdered several people. Hell, Raven is the man that killed Hoenheim and do you know something…I was one of the few that watched it and I _enjoyed_ watching it!"

"I see…However, you are not the one that killed Hoenheim."

"Damn….Well I better feed you, Raven doesn't want people dying before you reveal where that sword is." Salacia began to feed Roy, she gave him some meat then some potatoes. Next was rice, beans and bread.

"Why are you giving me so much food? I thought it was only meager portions…"

"Shut up…it doesn't matter how much you eat. You only get more because you're the one being tortured on a daily basis and more than anyone else. Edward's worried that you're dying…"

"Heh…he shouldn't be worried about me."

"Nice way to react to his concern. I suppose I should clean you up." Salacia clasped her hands together and washed away the blood that drenched Roy. "Damn…you're really bruised and cut up underneath all this blood…"

"You know…Brenda always told me how much you hated the sight of blood."

"Those days are gone, Roy."

"I know that…Yet it was always something nice to know."

"It was nice to know that I hated blood?"

"It gave us hope that you would never strike back and kill somebody."

"Looks like I spoiled that hope for you."

"We don't blame you, Salacia. We blame Raven, I remember you as a sweet girl who despite all the sadness, pain and anger, you still had a heart. You still loved certain things and tried to let a smile on your face. Salacia, you were always such a sweet person and that's why Brenda loved you, that's why I liked you. You never wanted to hurt anybody."

"Damn it…just…shut up!" Salacia put her hands to her ears and screamed. "I'm evil now Roy! Shut the hell up! Don't you see I don't give a damn anymore, I lost my soul when I killed Brenda, I don't have a soul. I don't have a goddamn heart I don't have anything! If you think I care at all then you are wrong you damn bastard! If I cared then you wouldn't be here and you wouldn't be tortured!"

"I'd be dead if you didn't care…I know that somewhere inside of you, there is still some good. Brenda believes that as well…"

"She's _DEAD_, Roy! She's dead, she's been dead for the last goddamn seven-"

"She's alive…" Salacia's eyes widened briefly. "She might have died a little on the inside but she's still alive and strong as ever…She owns that school now and she teaches many students. She lives alone though and she…eats a lot of pie. She has a huge scar on her chest and her back, but she survived, by some miracle, if not the grace of God she survived. The doctors that lived next door were not supposed to even be home that day, they were supposed to take their mother, Pinako out to dinner…Pinako couldn't go because she said she had a bad stomach ache…So the doctors were at the house. Strangely, Brenda had the strength to get up and get to the house where she passed out in the arms of Mr. and Mrs. Rockbell."

"So…you're saying Brenda is alive?"

"She is a strong woman…though I can say she doesn't like water…"

"I suppose that's my fault then."

"No, it's probably from a year before that when I nearly died."

"What happened?" By now Salacia had calmed down somewhat, but she was still upset.

"We went into this cave and I fell into this lake. She jumped in after me…there was a current pulling us down into a tunnel…She grabbed an object that pulled out and she nearly drowned before we got to the shore…She managed to hold her breath in but I was almost dead. However, she did CPR on me."

"I see…what was that object?"

"That was her new sword…"

"You know…Ed's right…if you would just reveal where the sword is…"

"I can't do that unless…"

"I just wanted a memento…"

"You wanted something that tied you to your past? You wanted something to remember your sister by? I thought you said you didn't have a soul...that you didn't care…"

"I don't care…I'm still not entirely sure that my sister is really alive…"

"She doesn't hate you. She has no desire to see you dead. Would you kill her if you saw her?"

"What part of I'm evil didn't you understand?" Salacia crossed her arms and turned around. Roy smiled at her and let out a small sigh.

"Ed, Havoc and Winry haven't been tortured since you moved everyone in separate rooms have they?"

"Do you trust my judgment? You could be making a big mistake by trusting my word."

"Have they been tortured, Salacia?"

"No…They're all fine…wounded and weary yes, but they're fine. Edward misses his family though."

"That's understandable."

"He's all depressed about losing his intermediate family and other crap like that." Salacia turned around to look at Roy's beat up body, she let out a small sigh and closed her eyes. Visions of her past ventured through her mind. She recalled being beaten up repeatedly and remembered the words that Raven spoke to her, the very words that transformed her young innocent mind into that of a violent and vicious killer. Her sister had wanted to help her and was about to when she killed her. Or so she thought she had killed her own sister, she couldn't be sure of that. She knew everyone else was dead and it was because of her rampage and now Roy, one of the only people ever nice to her, was sitting in her lair being tortured. "Raven would like for you to die, you know."

"Yes, I know that. He never liked me, he never liked Riza either. In fact after the incident that occurred, I fought against him. Well he attacked me…He nearly killed me then because I was…er…naïve and didn't do so well with the whole fighting thing."

"You know, you'd have it a lot easier if you would just tell us where to find that damn sword…"

"Are you still going on about that?" Roy let out a small smirk as Salacia walked toward the door. "Long ago I made a promise to a fellow flame alchemist never to reveal that the person had the sword…I intend to stick to that promise until the day I die. Just like I intend to protect the ones I love until the day I die."

"That's why you wanted no harm to come to your subordinate, Edward and Winry…"

"Yes. That's also why I want you to make sure to keep Archer the hell away from Riza. If he does get close to her…give me my glove so I can fry his ass and then you can take the glove away after that. I'm a man of my word and a man of my promises. So I leave you with this, I will never tell anybody who has that sword. I will leave you with this, if you ever find out…you're going to be in for one hell of a shock."

"Yeah…whatever you say Roy." Roy smirked as Salacia walked out of the room.

"I suppose that's it…If I don't make it out of here alive then I trust Edward to tell Riza that I truly did love her and I wish her well in life. I honestly am not sure how much more my body can take before I die…If they're trying to come help us, I hope they hurry. I do pray they get Ed, Havoc and Winry out first." Roy looked up to see Raven walk in the room for another session of trying to get Roy to either spill his guts or literally spill his guts. "Well…crap…"

* * *

There's the chapter, next will be up soon 


	14. The Struggle Begins

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I really don't. If I did then I can tell you this, I'd know how it would end and I'd have completed the entire story by now.

* * *

Chapter 14 (The Struggle Begins)

"Sloth, why are you in here?" Brenda asked when Sloth closed the door.

"Pride wanted me to come in here…He said you'd know what he wanted you to do." Brenda rubbed her chin and sighed.

"Alright, I do know what he wants me to do…This is his wish for you." Brenda turned to Scar and sighed. "Are you ready Scar?"

"Yes," Scar replied as he set his tattooed arm on the desk.

"What is going to happen?" Sloth asked as she crossed her arms. Brenda didn't respond but lifted Scar's arm and drew a circle.

"You may feel a cooling sensation in your arm as the souls are released from their prison," Brenda stated as she placed Scar's arm on the transmutation circle. She placed her hands on the circle and a bright glow appeared, Scar's tattoo glowed white and vanished. When the glow went away the tattoo was off of Scar's arm. "Your sins have been released, Scar. You are free to go."

"Free to go?"

"As in out of this room, I need to speak with Sloth." Scar nodded and left the room, Sloth was staring at the red stone that sat on the desk. "Your eyes do not deceive you, Sloth. This is the philosopher's stone, the very thing Dante sought for her light. You are lucky to not have to deal with her, because what I'm about to do for you is something Pride desires for you and something that Dante would never do."

"Wait…you're not thinking…"

"I'm not thinking about this, I'm doing this. Now sit down in that chair for a minute." Sloth nodded and sat down in the seat and watched as Brenda drew a large transmutation circle on the ground. "Okay Sloth, here is what will happen, you will feel a singe but that's normal. You will be human again."

"I don't want to be human if Pride isn't…"

"Pride wishes for your happiness, and I believe this is a very noble cause. Please stand in the center of the circle."

"What will happen when I become human?"

"You will retain your memories of your work as a secretary and a homunculus. You won't remember ever being a homunculus though. However, you will retain all your feelings for the people around you and you will have an alternate memory implanted in your mind."

"Will I still…love who I love right now?"

"If you mean Pride, then yes, you should still love him."

"Will I be able to fight beside him?"

"You will lose the capability to transform yourself into water if that's what you're asking. I'm not entirely sure what will happen but when you turn human, you may be an alchemist."

"An artificial memory of everybody I've ever known and my life…The same feelings I have for everyone though…If I'm human then I won't be with Pride forever though."

"We'll have to see what happens. Please, come to the center of the circle." Sloth nodded and walked to the circle. Brenda picked up the stone and handed it to Sloth. "From here on out, your name will be Colonel Juliet Douglas, what you do after this is up to you. That means you decide where the rest of your life leads you, no longer will you be controlled by anything. You will be a different human than the human you once were, Tricia Elric will be dead and the homunculus that looked like her will be pronounced dead. You may retain the same appearance but nobody will recognize you as Tricia Elric, they will recognize you as Juliet Douglas, their memories may be altered after this is over though."

"I understand…Is it okay that I'm just a little nervous?"

"Yes, that's fine."

"Have you ever done this before?"

"You mean turning a homunculus back into a human? Yes, to be honest I have done it before. If you remember Wrath, there was a Wrath some time before him. That Wrath is the one I transformed into a human."

"Where did you get the philosopher's stone from?" Brenda let out a small chuckle.

"You may or may not remember this since you're one of the newer homunculi. Envy and Lust will remember though. I was once considered a possible candidate for Dante's soul transfer, well she failed that one. She gave me the stone and thought I didn't know what she was doing…I ran off with the stone in my hands and made a fool out of her!" Sloth laughed in response.

"What happened to the Wrath at that time?"

"She followed me, I of course used her memories to cause her to break down. I handed her the philosopher's stone and she didn't run. She stood with the stone and held a bewildered look on my face. I wanted to give those poor souls a good use and I felt bad for this homunculus. I turned her human. She and I came up with a new name for her. Instead of Mesi, it was Rose."

"Mesi, wasn't that…"

"Yes, that was my second youngest sister…She was one of the nice ones, sort of."

"Did you cause her to become a homunculus?"

"I attempted a human transmutation. Nobody can be perfect."

"Then, what did you sacrifice?"

"My ability to have children."

"Oh…You've never wanted that ability back?"

"I never cared…I love children but I didn't think I deserved any. I lost my real attempt to raise a child. I was going to try and raise my sister…It didn't work out as I hoped and I've decided to never bother with children. If the day comes that I want a child then I will adopt a child."

"I see. Children are nice to have."

"You're remembering the memories Tricia Elric had?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to wait a while or should I continue? When this is complete you will no longer remember having children or ever being married. You will remember being Fuhrer Bradley's secretary and you will remember being in love with him."

"I'm ready now."

"Okay, here we go Juliet!" Brenda clasped her hands together and placed them on the circle, a bright red glow appeared. When the glow disappeared, Sloth, or Juliet, was standing with her arms to the side. "It's done Juliet."

"Good, it did feel kind of funny…I love this…being human feels so much better now."

"Would you like to try and see if you can perform alchemy? Certain capabilities such as Envy's would not enable him to perform alchemy if he were to become human. Yet there are some that will, you may be the lucky one. You can probably perform alchemy without a transmutation circle now because of your life as a homunculus. You would have had to see the gate in order to become human." Juliet nodded and clasped her hands together causing water to shoot from the ground. "Very good, now let's go outside and greet the others."

"Do you know if Pride will be turned into a human, can he?"

"I can't make any promise…That was only the second time I've ever managed to do that. I don't think there will be another…I'm sorry." Juliet lowered her head and sighed.

"I understand…"

"Don't worry, everything will be just fine." The two walked outside the room and found everyone still waiting. "Well, she's human now."

"I'm glad," Pride said with a smile. "How do you feel Colonel Douglas?"

"Just fine, sir."

"Well, then are we all ready to go?" Brenda asked.

"Yes, they should be in the Ishbalian cave unless they moved their hideout," Envy stated with a smirk. "So, we're taking Archer out first?"

"That would be the idea," Scar answered. "You get to take the form of Lieutenant Hawkeye."

"Don't remind me."

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"Is my sister really alive?" Salacia asked herself. "Can that be true? If so…I need to find out for myself!"

"Hey Salacia, I'm going to check out Hawkeye," Archer said with a smirk.

"Not without me you're not."

"Oh come on, where's the fun in that?"

"Unless you want Raven to kill you then I suggest you not complain." Salacia walked in front of Archer as he walked down the road with a sigh.

"Bitch…"

"_What_ was that!" Salacia turned and glared at Archer. "I know you didn't just…" Salacia stopped talking when she heard a familiar sounding voice. She quickly hid behind a building and watched as Riza, Lust, Envy, Juliet, Pride, Scar and finally, Brenda walked into view. "M-My sister…She _is_ alive." Salacia turned around to look at Archer. He was standing next to her and was the only one in view.

"What are you doing?" They didn't see most of the group hide somewhere. Envy transformed into Riza and walk beside Archer.

"Damn…I don't have many, if any lives left," Envy muttered. "Dante kept those dame stones hidden and I'm out of lives…I better kill Archer before he realizes what's happening." Salacia looked closely at the sword in her sister's sheath, she remembered Roy's words about promising a fellow flame alchemist to keep a secret. How many flame alchemists did Roy know, probably not many and not that many alchemists carried swords with them. Salacia's eyes widened as she realized her sister must have the sword she sought.

"Damn," Salacia muttered. "I didn't think she would be alive or have that sword." Salacia swiftly turned and ran back toward the hideout and left Archer to fend for himself. She knew it was a bad idea and Raven wouldn't be pleased but she didn't really care. Archer, thinking Envy was Riza grabbed Envy and shoved him against the wall.

"Hey babe, did you miss me?" Archer asked.

"No, not really…How could I miss someone I hate?" Envy asked with a low growl. "Now get off me Archer if you don't want a spike driven through your chest."

"What?" Archer let go of Envy and raised his eyebrow. "Envy, is that you? Why are you walking around like Riza?" From their hiding spot the others watched with confused looks on their faces.

"What the hell is going on?" Brenda asked. She saw Envy point toward them as he and Archer carried on a conversation. Envy transformed into his normal self and started laughing with Archer. Archer then looked toward the group's hiding spot and pulled out a gun. Envy turned and let out a smirk as everyone's eyes widened. "That traitor!"

"We could never have trusted him," Pride said with a groan.

"I'll deal with them," Lust said with an angry voice. She stepped out of hiding and glared at Envy. "What the hell is wrong with you Envy! What are you doing!"

"Sorry, but I really don't want the Flame Alchemist to live," Envy said with a chuckle. "There's just no way in hell that I can let you guys live. Archer and I struck up a deal a few days ago, so he's going to get what he wants and I get what I want. You guys die as well as Edward Elric and the Flame Alchemist. I'm sorry, that's just the way it's got to be."

"You bastard, we trusted you! You better hope I don't hit that tattoo of yours, Envy, because when I do that means it's the end of the line for you."

"I know, I just have to make sure you don't touch the tattoo. Did you honestly think that _I_ could do something good? Don't make me laugh, you're lucky I told you how to even get near Kimblee."

"Damn you…" Pride stepped out and drew his sword.

"I'll help you out," Pride said to Lust.

"Great…The ultimate eye…makes things a bit difficult for me. However, I won't let it bother me one bit!" Envy charged toward Lust and Pride. Pride dodged Envy and sliced him in the back with his sword. Lust shot a nail and hit Envy in the head. She shot another nail toward Envy only to have him duck and shove a spike through her chest. With the spike in her chest, Pride then sliced Envy's back.

"You've never fought one against two, have you Envy?" Pride said quietly.

"Ah, shut up!" Envy shouted. Pride brought the sword down and Envy flipped back and spun around while dodging the sword. "Archer, what the hell are you doing, get the others while I hold off the damn homunculi!" It was then that Riza stepped out and looked at Archer seductively. Archer eyed Riza and licked his lips which made Riza cringe inwardly.

"Come on Archer, you know you want me," Riza said. She felt so disgusted with the words but she wasn't about to let him touch her. She had a gun in her hand for this very moment. Envy, Pride and Lust had run off somewhere else for battle and the others were watching Riza and Archer intensely. Riza walked over to a wall and placed her hands above her head. "I'm waiting." She then crossed her arms and felt very disgusted with her actions. However, they appeared to be working as Archer was walking toward her.

"So, you've finally come through, have you? I should have suspected as much," Archer said quietly. He reached his hand out but Riza sidestepped him.

"Not so fast…I need you to do a few things first."

"What is that?"

"Put your gun on the ground." Archer obediently followed and set his gun on the ground. "Now remember to keep your hands to your side."

"Okay…" Riza walked over to Archer and while running her finger down his shirt she kicked the gun to where the others were hiding. Archer started to bring his hands up but Riza quickly moved out of the way to avoid being touched by him. She wasn't about to let any other man touch her before Roy and that's the way that was going down. "Good, I should thank you. Do you have any ideas on how I should repay you?"

"Yes I do."

"Good, now close your mouth…you're drooling…" Riza narrowed her eyes and sighed. "Roy would never act like this," Riza thought to herself. "Or would he…I should try this seduction thing on Roy…" She was about to reach for her gun when Archer gasped. A black nail shot through his chest and Lust stood behind Archer. Pride walked up next to Riza and frowned.

"I can't believe Envy betrayed us," Lust said quietly.

"You killed Envy?" Riza asked.

"Yes, Envy is dead," Pride stated as he crossed his arms.

"Yes, and now Archer is dead," Lust stated. "It is time to move on."

"I was about to get him actually," Riza said quietly.

"We didn't think you'd want to have his blood on your hands. You know, the whole killing thing. Wouldn't you rather a cold blooded killer do the killing?"

"I suppose…Anyway that's not important, what is important is saving Roy! Let's go!" Everybody started to run off and Lust was the furthest behind.

"Going somewhere?" A voice asked. Lust stopped running and looked back to see Raven standing behind her. "Ah, it looks like your little group has run off without you. It appears Salacia forgot that I didn't want her to leave Archer behind and because she did that, he's dead.

"Y-You're raven aren't you?" Lust asked with a low growl.

"Yes, I am."

"So is it true that you are a homunculus?"

"I am part homunculus."

"You know, you should go after the ones running."

"Why would I do that, if I tried that then you would try to stop me." Lust pointed her hand and shot a nail toward Raven.

"I suppose that's right." Raven smirked as he sidestepped Lust's nails. "Is that all?"

"Shut the hell up!" Lust charged toward Raven and he clasped his hands together and sent a spike through Lust's head. "Damn it!"

"Well, homunculi don't die easily do they…"

"I'm going to avenge Dante!" Lust pierced through Raven and sliced her nails through his chest. He stood as she clawed at him.

"I can't let you mutilate my body. That would be a bad thing…" Lust took a step back as she noticed the shadows starting to engulf her.

"No! Crap!" The darkness began crushing her and suffocating her.

"Do you desire life?"

"Don't kill me just yet…I won't die yet!"

"Fine." Lust thought she felt herself sink, she looked down to see a large black hole beneath her.

"Crap…"

"You guessed correct, Lust. Enjoy hell." Raven put his hands in his pockets and walked away.

The group continued running but stopped when they heard Lust's ear piercing scream echo through the air. "Lust, I think she's dead," Riza said quietly.

"Damn…We'll just have to go on without her then," Pride said quietly. Everyone began running toward the cave, Pride looked to Juliet and sighed. "Juliet…I must tell you this…"

"What, can it not wait?" Juliet asked.

"No…If we don't make it out alive…it doesn't look good for us homunculi…I want you to know that I have always loved you." Juliet gasped and furrowed her brow.

"You choose _now_ to tell me this? What about my feelings…Don't you dare die in there Pride. If you do I don't know what I'll do…"

"I don't intend to die. I intend to survive and hand that resignation letter to General Grumman. Then I'm going to take you and we'll live a life together somewhere, just you and me."

"That sounds like a plan, but let's focus on getting Colonel Mustang out of there…Look at Riza, she seems so determined."

"She loves Roy," Brenda said quietly. "He loves her too but she doesn't realize that. Even still she's going to risk it all just to save him, even risking her own life to save Roy and kill her Uncle. In which case I think it won't be too hard to kill him."

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There's that chapter, I do hope you enjoyed it 


	15. Salacia's change, and Alchohol

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I really don't. If I did then I can tell you this, I'd know how it would end and I'd have completed the entire story by now.

Chapter 15 (Salacia's change and Alcohol)

* * *

"Roy…you were right," Salacia said quietly. Roy looked up at Salacia he thought he saw something glistening on her face.

"I was right about what?" Roy asked as he raised his eyebrow. Salacia clenched her fists tightly.

"My sister is alive. She's alive and helping Riza to come save your life. I have found out though…she has that sword."

"So you've figured that much out…I have outlived my purpose then."

"What?"

"You know what you need to know…No longer is there any use for me. I'll accept death, but I must say you're lucky I'm bound because I would fight to live. I would do so only to see Riza once more and right now I wish nothing more than to see her one final time."

"Roy…"

"Look at me Salacia, I'm bloodier than half the victims in the Ishbalian war! How the hell am I going to live?"

"You haven't lost the will to live have you?"

"No. However I've come to accept that my body is failing. Soon it will give out and I will die."

"You shouldn't be so grim."

"What the hell do you care…"

"What? I…"

"You said it yourself, you're evil. You don't care about anything…You know, I was considering adopting Fullmetal into the family but it won't happen."

"It probably won't…He was actually talking to me once before…In a way he told me that he thought you'd make a good father. He said that if you made it out that he was considering the thought of moving in with you and Riza. If you two ever got married…"

"Nice to know…Are you crying, Salacia?"

"No, of course not!" Salacia walked over to a desk and opened it to reveal Roy's gloves.

"What are you doing?" Salacia walked over to Roy and put the two spare gloves in his pockets.

"He thinks of you as a father, you love Riza and she does you…you two deserve to marry. My sister's alive and Raven manipulated me when I was a child. He manipulated me into doing something that I should never have done in the first place...He used my anger and my rage to cause me to kill my family and now…Now I realize where I screwed up. I shouldn't have allowed this to happen Roy…I'm sorry…I'm going to set things right and I'll kill Raven."

"What are you talking about, don't risk that…"

"You need to save Ed though."

"Care to explain that statement?"

"I left Archer to die, that and because of your stubbornness…Kimblee's taking Edward to kill him."

"What! Hurry up and give me my gloves!" Salacia put Roy's gloves on his hands and stepped back as Roy snapped his fingers and destroyed the chains that bound him to the wall. He landed on the ground and grunted as blood squirt out from his legs. He looked up and smirked, "I'm back and it's Showtime!"

"Roy, when you stop Kimblee, I want you to escape. Don't come back…"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You are bloody enough as it is…"

"Fine…" Roy ran off and Salacia let out a sigh.

"It's blistering hot out there today…It's like a desert…I can't use my water alchemy very well…I trust Roy to tell my sister that I'm sorry and I love her." Salacia walked into Havoc's room and undid his chains.

"You're helping us now?" Havoc asked as he walked with Salacia into Winry's room.

"Yes…I need to make amends." Salacia freed Winry and smiled for the first time in a long time. "I should never have done what I did in life and now I must atone for these crimes."

------------------------

"Damn you Kimblee!" Ed exclaimed as Kimblee dragged him outside.

"It's really hot out here, it seems pretty sandy also. I'd say its perfect weather for your death."

"I'm already beat up enough as it is…" Ed punched at Kimblee only to have Kimblee hit him in the abdomen. Ed was still tired and still weak, but he continued to fight. "You'll pay for killing my brother."

"Wow you're pathetic." Kimblee hit Ed in the back and Ed spun around and kicked Kimblee in the chest. He winced in pain and Kimblee once more kicked him in the side.

"Damn, I'm too beat up."

"Yes, and now you'll be even worse." Kimblee tossed Ed on the ground and kicked him in the stomach. Kimblee kept kicking and stomping on Ed until Ed started to cough up blood.

"Damn…"

"Wow, to think the Fullmetal Alchemist could lose this much-" Kimblee was interrupted by an explosion of flames that sent him flying somewhat.

"Stay away from him," Roy said with a sneer. Roy walked over to Ed and knelt down. "Are you okay?" Ed opened his eyes and let out a moan.

"F-Father?"

"Not quite," Roy said with a chuckle. Roy's face hardened as he slowly stood up and looked at Kimblee. "This is pretty damn far from any place in particular…"

"How the hell did you get free and furthermore where did you find those gloves!" Kimblee exclaimed.

"You would like to know, wouldn't you?"

"How do you expect to fight me? Look at you you're in worse shape than that pitiful thing lying on the ground!"

"Try to refrain from calling him a 'thing' will you!" Roy snapped his fingers and sent a blast of fire toward Kimblee. Kimblee dodged out of the way and clasped his hands together causing Roy to fly back in an explosion. Roy landed on the ground and slowly pushed himself up.

"You're really in bad shape there…You should have waited for the others to save your ass. You'd be surprised at who was on your rescue team. You had even the homunculi trying to rescue you! Let's see…Riza, Brenda, Pride, Sloth, on and even Scar."

"Remind me to thank Pride and Scar somehow."

"You won't be getting the chance to do that since you wasted your chance to survive by coming out here to protect this kid."

"Yeah…I'm making a plan to adopt this kid, he's an orphan now so he needs a family…I will be marrying Riza and all this will happen after you die!"

"Honestly, I don't see how a half dead person will kill me…You're not even_half_ dead, you're nearly dead. You're hanging by a thread! Why I bet you can't even run!"

"Not so well, no, but I'm still capable of killing you." Roy snapped his fingers and sent an explosion of flames toward Kimblee. "You don't know how good it feels to be back!"

"I bet you must be feeling pretty damn tired though." Kimblee ran toward Roy and punched him in the abdomen. Roy held his waist and coughed up some blood. "See you can't even withstand a blow like that anymore. You're in need of a medic and I'm afraid a medic won't come." Roy was breathing hard, he maintained his stance in front of the fallen Elric but was having a difficult time keeping consciousness. "Yeah, you're just drifting." Kimblee hit Roy in the side and then knocked Roy to the ground. Roy tried pushing himself back up but stopped when he was on hands and knees. It was then that he began to vomit more blood. "Ooh, looks like you're going to bite the dust!"

"D-Damn you Kimblee." Kimblee laughed as he slammed his foot down on Roy's back and pressed him against the hot sand. Roy groaned and Kimble lowered himself to look into Roy's eyes with a sadistic grin.

"As I said, you're in need of an ambulance and it looks like there isn't one around here."

"Then will I suffice!" A loud and booming voice exclaimed. Kimblee raised his eyebrow and looked over to see Major Alex Armstrong and General Olivia Armstrong.

"I thought you were sick…" Alex held his stomach and groaned.

"Take it easy Alex, don't overdo yourself," Olivia said with a sneer. Alex nodded and glared at Kimblee. "When we heard about Roy's abduction, my brother wanted to help him at all costs. Food poisoning doesn't seem to keep him down. Of course, when it was you that gave him the bad food…"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot I gave you bad food," Kimblee said with a smirk. "I figured one less subordinate out of the way so we could assassinate Roy Mustang. Of course then they get the crazy idea to go ahead and kidnap them…I figured it was about time you showed up…How did you find me?"

"It wasn't hard actually," Olivia said with a chuckle. "Your boss happens to be a quite the alcoholic, we found out where your lair was the other day when we met up with a certain alcohol loving madman."

"You will pay for your crimes," Alex shouted.

"Let me deal with the bastard, brother," Olivia said grimly. "You take the Colonel and Edward Elric to the car."

"Yes sister." Kimblee started to step in front of Roy but Olivia quickly slashed her sword at him causing him to leap back. Major Armstrong picked up Roy and Ed and ran off with them.

"Okay Kimblee, this is the end of the line for you."

"Heh, well it looks like I'll just have to kill you, then go after your brother who is sick enough as it is. Then I get to kill Mustang, I'd say that is a joyous day to me." Kimblee clasped his hands together and Olivia jumped in time to avoid getting blown up by an explosion. Olivia charged toward Kimblee and brought her sword down against Kimblee's arm and chest.

"Okay you bastard, here is where you die." Olivia slashed Kimblee in the chest and slashed again only to have Kimblee tuck out of the way.

"Close, perhaps too close…" Olivia was blown back by an explosion and then hit by another explosion.

"Damn it…You're going regret that!" Olivia got up and Kimblee chuckled.

"I don't think I've done anything at all yet."

"How would you like to be rendered powerless and useless?" Olivia charged toward Kimblee, faked a sword stab and then sliced off one of Kimblee's arms.

"Crap!"

"Now…no more explosions, Kimblee."

"Damn you…I can still fight!" Kimblee kicked at Olivia only to have her jump back and slice off his foot. "Crap!" Kimblee slammed into the ground and groaned. Olivia looked over with wide eyes to see her brother driving the car toward them. She leapt back when she saw her brother not visible in the windshield. The car stopped and the wheel was on Kimblee's back.

"Damn it, why the hell are you driving!" Olivia shouted as she opened the door to the car. "I didn't say drive!"

"I'm sorry sister, but the Colonel is dying…I don't mean he's just wounded to the point of unconsciousness, I mean he is dying. He's completely pale, has a lot of blood loss it seems…I think that because he keeps vomiting up blood every now and then. I had to hurry."

"Damn it!" Olivia took the vomit bucket that was in the passenger seat out and dumped the contents on Kimblee as she got into the car. "Okay, how far to the nearest hospital? Are you able to drive?"

"Yeah, that vomit you just dumped out was the last of the bad stuff…I feel a bit better. The nearest clinic should be a few minutes away if we drive slowly."

"You're not planning to drive slowly, are you?"

"No, I'm going to drive fast." Alex slammed his foot on the gas pedal and drove over Kimblee once more.

"Crap…I didn't think it'd be me lying face down in the sand out here…Bleeding to death. It seems that's not all that's happened…I can't get up. I've had my leg cut off and my arm sliced off. Damn it…There's vomit from Major Armstrong on my face. Damn them…"

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"Come on, we have to get you two out of here!" Salacia exclaimed as she led Havoc and Winry out of the hideout. They stopped running when they saw Raven standing before them with his arms crossed. Salacia growled and clenched her fists. "Raven, just the person I wanted to see!"

"Really, to think that you would want to see me…What are you doing with these two?"

"What the hell do you think? I'm freeing them. I won't let them die like the others! Hell the others aren't dead yet."

"Pity, I trusted you, Salacia. You see, this is precisely why I work alone. It's hot out here, I don't think you can use water right now."

"Yeah, but basic alchemy I got."

"I don't have the time." Salacia's eyes widened as Raven clasped his hands together. She jumped and avoided a black hole, she quickly placed her hands together and transmuted the black hole. "What the hell…" A red glow appeared from the hole, when it went away, a red stone sat in its place.

"I didn't think that was possible…Anyway, I'm going to kill you Raven! You manipulated my mind and caused me to murder my family! Now I'm going to show you what happens when I really get angry!" Salacia charged toward Raven and punched him in the abdomen. Raven quickly grabbed Salacia's neck and punched her in the face and then the abdomen. He threw her to the ground, she rolled out of the path of an oncoming spike. She pushed herself up and growled as she looked to Havoc and Winry. "Go, get out of here now! I don't know where Roy and Ed will be but you two need to leave while you can!" Havoc would have protested but he needed to get Winry out of danger so he and Winry quickly ran away from the battle.

"You're letting them get away. This is such a pity…" Raven sent a spike toward Salacia and grazed her leg. Salacia groaned and clasped her hands hoping she could perform some water alchemy. Unfortunately she was unable to perform anything. She moved her hand to her belt and smiled, she had the right belt.

"Come on Raven…I know something you can't possibly resist."

"What is that?" Salacia lifted her shirt up somewhat to reveal several syringes on her belt. Each syringe filled with one of the most potent alcohols.

"You thought I wasn't prepared?" Raven chuckled and charged toward Salacia. He punched her in the stomach as she grabbed a syringe and stabbed him in the lower back, injecting alcohol into his system. Raven growled and sent a black spike into Salacia's abdomen. "Damn…" Salacia pulled out some more syringes and charged toward Raven. She hit him in the side and then the thigh, injecting alcohol both times. Raven slammed his fist into her head and then threw her into the ground.

"Will you cut that out!"

"I thought you enjoyed alcohol, Raven!"

"Great…now I need to go drink some water or something…I need something clean to help remove this alcohol. You're dead now, Salacia. You're going to regret turning on me!" Salacia lay on her back and looked up to see a large spike appear above her and slam into her. Blood spilled from her mouth and Raven went back inside to eat and drink.

"Good luck Raven, I've replaced every drink in there with alcohol and you'll think It's soda and in some cases…water…I've also injected alcohol into all of your foods…Soon Raven, you will die…If not by my sister's hands then probably by alcohol poisoning." Salacia chuckled at the joke and coughed up more blood. "I guess I deserve this…I'll die alone."

"Salacia!"

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There's the chapter for all you guys, hopefully you enjoyed the fate that Kimblee had and all other parts of this! 


	16. Death and Raven's demise

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I really don't. If I did then I can tell you this, I'd know how it would end and I'd have completed the entire story by now.

* * *

Chapter 16 (Death and Raven's demise)

"Salacia!" Brenda screamed as they ran next to Salacia. She looked up into Brenda's eyes and smiled.

"Brenda…I'm so sorry," Salacia said quietly. "I've done a bad thing sister…I've done a very bad thing. It's over now, I've fixed my mistake." Brenda placed her hands behind Salacia's head and back and frowned.

"Salacia…Did you go against Raven, why did you do this?"

"I needed redemption for my sins…I didn't mean to kill them…I didn't mean to kill my family. I didn't want you to die, I was manipulated by Raven and now it's over." Salacia pointed at the red stone and smiled. "I think you might find some use for that." Brenda looked at the stone and shook her head.

"I wouldn't know what to use it for…"

"You could use it to save her life," Riza said quietly.

"I don't want my life," Salacia said as she coughed more blood. "I nearly killed my sister and because of me I nearly killed Roy…"

"Is Roy alive?"

"Maybe…I sent Roy to save Edward. You need to kill Raven, it's up to you. By now he probably has a lot of alcohol in his system…That makes it easier to kill him." Salacia lifted her arms to hug Brenda. "I-I love you Brenda, thank you for being here with me, thank you for helping me."

"I love you too Salacia…I've wanted to hear your voice once again…I'm sorry that I'm too late."

"You're not too late, you're not late at all. Goodbye Brenda, tell Roy I said thank you."

"I will…"

"He really did help to turn me around."

"I'll tell him Salacia, don't worry about that."

"At least I'm not alone……"

"Salacia…Salacia!" Everyone closed their eyes and let the tears fall as Brenda laid Salacia back on the ground. She closed Salacia's eyes and stood up slowly.

"I don't care if he is family," Riza said quietly. "Raven will die here…What he did is unforgivable…" Riza looked over at Brenda who held her fists clenched. "Are you okay?"

"I hate Raven now…I no longer fight for justice…" Scar's eyes widened briefly before looking down sadly. "Roy is a good swordfighter, he's had practice while we grew up. You make a lot of money with what I do…I'm richer than Roy is now because of my job." Brenda slowly drew a transmutation circle in the sand and issued Pride to stand in the center. She handed Pride the philosopher's stone.

"What are you doing?" Pride asked.

"You will be human…Your new name will be Bradley…Don't worry about that letter, I mailed it to Grumman before we left. You won't be Fuhrer after this is over. Instead you and Juliet can live a happy life, have Roy replace me in my job. No other except him can do what I was able to do."

"What are you talking about?"

"He will understand, it's the basis of our friendship with one another. He knew that if I ever strayed from the path of justice…or if I ever died that he would take my place and teach the next generation to grow up with justice and righteousness. He would teach future generations of alchemists and swordfighters."

"You're not dead though," Riza stated. Brenda transmuted Bradley and turned him into a human. She took her sword and handed it to Riza.

"Give this to Roy, then he will understand. Do not use that blade until it is in Roy's capable hands. Since I now have hatred and a craving for revenge in my system, I am no longer able to continue. Now leave, Raven should be dealing with alcohol right now so he won't be killing any more." Scar gestured for everyone to continue and so they did. They all ran off without looking back, if they had turned their heads to look back they would have seen a large explosion of flames and smoke go into the air.

"What was that all about?" Riza asked.

"She said to me, if she ever wound up fighting for revenge then she would perish by her own hand," Scar said quietly. "For revenge breeds revenge…right now we only fight for justice, she however is fighting for revenge and that's why she must perish."

"Plus, she probably desires to be by her sister's side," Juliet stated. "After being away from her sister for so long…To be reunited in death…"

"Will Roy really leave the military to take her place though?" Bradley asked.

"If it was something he promised, then probably yes," Riza said quietly. "He's never gone back on a promise. I've promised to follow him no matter what…So whatever decision he makes…That's what I'm going to do." Riza looked over at Bradley with determination in her eyes. "Here's what we will do Bradley. You use your sword to cut him up, we want to make sure that the darkness inside of his body escapes…Since right now the only alchemist is Juliet and I don't think she can use water alchemy in the heat."

"I can't," Juliet responded. "We're just going to have to fight him hand to hand."

"I would like you to stay clear of danger, Juliet," Bradley stated.

"I can fight…"

"I know, but I don't want to risk you dying…Not now at least. When we're both finally human and can both be together…"

"How do you mean?"

"I want you for my wife, that's what I mean. I don't want that fake wife, I want a real wife and I love you."

"I don't mean to be rude, but this is hardly the time," Scar said with a scowl.

"I hate to say it, but I agree with Scar," Riza said as the group entered the hideout. "Juliet, if you aren't a good hand to hand fighter and you can't use your alchemy…It may be a good idea to stand clear." Riza pulled out her gun as Bradley drew his sword.

"Fine…I will," Juliet said quietly.

---------------

"Hurry up, get him out of the car!" Olivia shouted. Alex quickly opened the door and pulled Roy out in his arms.

"Are you alright Colonel?" Alex asked. Roy's eyes were barely open, his face was pale and blood was flowing from his mouth. Roy coughed and blood spilt from his mouth.

"Of course he's not okay you idiot!" Olivia shouted. They looked over as Ed climbed out of the car.

"What's going on?" Ed asked. He looked over at Roy and blinked for a second. "Colonel! What happened to the Colonel!"

"At least we don't need to figure out what to do with you, though you're in need of medical attention as well." Olivia burst through the hospital doors with Alex and Ed. The waiting room was filled with people, "Someone, get me a doctor now!"

"I'm sorry miss, you're going to have to wait," A nurse said without looking up from her computer.

"Does it look like I can wait! I have a bloody man who is dying right now and needs a goddamn blood transfusion and some help! All your other goddamn patients can wait their damn turn and you can get me a damn doctor right now!"

"Yes ma'am." Ed and Alex stared at Olivia with wide eyes as a doctor rushed into the waiting room.

"Hurry and get in here!" The doctor said. They all rushed into the doctor's room and laid Roy on the medical bed. Ed sat on another medical bed in the same room. "What happened to this man?"

"This is Colonel Roy Mustang and that is Edward Elric," Olivia said quietly. "As you know, they went missing a few days ago. They were abducted and tortured by three now deceased criminals."

"I see…Okay well the Colonel will need a blood transfusion immediately and as for Edward…" The doctor looked at Ed and crossed his arms. "Not quite as bad as the Colonel…We'll still need to check you out and take care of all the damages."

"I will be willing to give my blood right away," Alex said quickly. "Allow me to do this for the Colonel."

"Okay." The doctor looked at Olivia and sighed. "I'd ask you to wait in the waiting room but given what just happened out there…"

"How long will it be before they're okay?" Olivia asked as she crossed her arms.

"I would say they both need to be monitored overnight and we'll see where it goes from there. I believe all they need to do is be monitored overnight and they can leave in the morning."

"That sounds fair to me."

"As for Edward, does he have any next of kin?" Ed sighed and looked over at Roy. "If you are an orphan then it's going to be very hard to work with you…Our hospital doesn't always deal with orphans unfortunately."

"I would say…The Colonel then."

"So this man is your next of kin?"

"We'll go with that."

"Put them both under Riza Hawkeye," Olivia said as she closed her eyes. A nurse walked in and sighed.

"Doctor, you have two other patients who claim to have come back from being held hostage."

"Send them in," The doctor said quietly. Ed looked over as Havoc and Winry walked into the room.

"Edward, you're alright!" Winry said as she quickly hugged him.

"Not so hard Winry," Ed said with a groan. Winry quickly released her hold.

"Sorry…"

"It's okay."

"Crap…the Colonel really took a beating," Havoc said with a groan.

"Once we get the blood cleaned off of him, he'll probably look better off," The doctor stated with a smile. "You two actually don't seem too wounded. You say you were held hostage for a few days just like these two men?"

"Yes, but the Colonel got the worst treatment because he knew something that the criminals wanted and he never revealed what they wanted to know."

"I see…"

"We'll have to let Riza know they're okay tomorrow," Olivia said quietly.

"Yes, that would be best. I think we should stay in the hospital until they're okay," Alex responded.

-------------------

"Damn it!" Raven exclaimed, "Everything here has alcohol in it! What the hell was that woman trying to do to me!"

"Hello Uncle Raven…" Raven turned and saw Riza pointing her gun at him. Bradley had his sword out and Scar had his arms crossed. "So you've had a lot of alcohol. I suppose that means there are no more shadows inside of you."

"I've had more alcohol than I usually get thanks to that damn woman. I can control it up to a point but after that…I usually wind up not getting enough of it. That is so damn annoying."

"Too bad Raven. Do you know where Roy is?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know, Salacia released him!"

"I see…Well then Uncle Raven, it's time you pay for your crimes."

"I don't think so. How about instead, I fight and kill you. You see, I can still fight, despite not using alchemy." Raven charged toward Riza and threw a punch that she dodged. Riza quickly leapt back and fired a bullet into Raven's head. Instead of the usual darkness that would seep out of the wound to heal it, liquid seeped out of the hole and did not heal the wound.

"What's with the liquid…is that alcohol?"

"Yes, the alcohol absorbs the darkness inside of me. Usually the more that it absorbs the worse. It takes a long time for my shadows to return, but I don't need to worry about that." Raven charged toward Riza and punched her in the stomach. Riza quickly kicked Raven in the chest and fired multiple bullets into his body.

"I hate to say it, but right now you look like one of those barrels that leaks when shot…"

"Shut the hell up!" Raven once more charged toward Riza. He grabbed her neck and started to strangle her.

"Chances are you can't regenerate without that darkness inside of you," Bradley said as he sliced off one of Raven's arms. "Try that on for size."

"Damn it!"

"Thanks for that, Bradley," Riza said as she put her hand to her throat. Raven turned around to see Scar charge and punch him in the face. "It should be interesting to see all the alcohol leave his body. After all, when it's gone he will have nothing. Bradley, hit him again with your sword!"

"Okay." Bradley slashed Raven's chest several times and Riza fired several bullets into Raven.

"Damn you…you think you're so great, I have news for you…You're not!" Raven quickly punched Riza with his one hand and kicked Scar in the chest. Bradley then slashed Raven down the back and stabbed him in the chest. "Crap!"

"I like fighting him when he's got nothing but alcohol in his system," Bradley said with a smile.

"Yeah, but you know what's freaky? His arm that you sliced off disappeared."

"It probably did the whole turning to dust thing…"

"Slice off another limb then." Bradley nodded as he sliced off Raven's other arm.

"Crap, I can still take you down with my legs!"

"It seems my uncle loses some sanity when he has too much alcohol in him." Riza kicked Raven to the wall and fired more bullets into him. Scar then punched Raven in the gut and kicked Raven in the jaw. Bradley charged toward Raven and sliced Raven's legs off.

"Damn you!" Raven exclaimed. The group watched as Raven's legs turned to dust.

"Wow, Raven's a vegetable now," Riza said as she blinked her eyes. "Okay, as punishment for all your sins….Bradley…Kill him."

"Crap!" Raven shouted in pain as Bradley cut his body into thin strips. Bradley sheathed his sword when he was finished and the group let out a sigh of relief. The battle had been won.

* * *

Raven's dead but the story is far from over. Well not _far_ but it still has a way to go 


	17. Aftermath

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I really don't. If I did then I can tell you this, I'd know how it would end and I'd have completed the entire story by now.

* * *

Chapter 17 (Aftermath)

"Where is his room!" Riza said quickly to the nurses in the hospital.

"Ma'am, I'm afraid he is sleeping," The nurses said quietly.

"I don't care, do you know how long I've been without him and he nearly died for crying out loud!"

"I think you better let her see the Colonel," Olivier said as she crossed her arms.

"There are a few things that will be happening apparently," Bradley said quietly. "So what room is Roy Mustang in?"

"He is in room three fifty six," The nurse said with a defeated sigh. Riza and the others rushed to Roy's room and walked inside. Riza slowly walked to Roy's sleeping body. She was angry at Raven for what he had done to Roy but she was happy that Roy was alive. She gazed sadly at the bruises and cuts that Roy had on him. Riza looked over to see General Grumman walk in the room.

"What are you doing here grandfather?" Riza asked.

"Roy was awake earlier and contacted me," Grumman said calmly. "He said he needed some papers brought to him right away.

"Hey, will someone move this damn curtain!" A voice cried out. Everyone looked over to where a curtain separated part of the room. Ed was in the hospital bed on that side. Riza walked over and opened the curtain with a smile. "Stupid hospital room…Makes it so I can't reach the curtain…"

"It's good to see you are alive and well Edward," Riza said as she crossed her arms.

"Yeah…It's good to see you. It sucks being an orphan though."

"They count you as an orphan?"

"Now that my father's dead as well as my mother…I am an orphan…I am also not apparently old enough to live on my own and so they'll either toss me in some hard labor area or throw me in an orphanage when I'm out of this hospital."

"I don't intend to let that happen," Someone said quietly. Everyone looked over to see Roy sitting up in the bed. Riza smiled, she was happy to hear Roy's voice once more. "Fullmetal, do you know what these papers are?" Roy took the papers from General Grumman and Ed shook his head.

"I can't read them from here." Roy looked to Riza and smiled.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye, please transport these papers to Edward." Riza nodded and took the papers over to Ed. He stared at the papers with wide eyes before looking at Roy.

"You want to adopt me?" Ed wasn't sure what to say to this, Riza was speechless as well.

"Yes. Will you sign and accept that?" Ed looked to the papers and smiled.

"Yeah, sure, give me a pen." Roy smiled and nodded for Riza to hand Ed a pen. She did so and Ed signed his part of the document. She then handed Roy the papers and he signed them as well.

"Hm…there seems to be something wrong here." Roy stared at the document as if there was something horribly wrong with them.

"What, what is it?" Riza asked. Roy looked over to Riza and gestured for her to walk over to him. "Come here, Riza." Riza nodded and walked over to Roy.

"There is a signature missing!" Roy shook the paper in his hand and Riza crossed her arms.

"I'm not sure I understand you."

"There are three places for signatures. Only two of them have been signed."

"Oh?" Riza took the paper from Roy's hands and looked at it. There were three places on the adoption papers that needed to be signed. One was for the adopted child, one for the legal male guardian and one for the legal female guardian. Riza raised her eyebrow and looked over at Roy who was looking back at Riza with a smirk. Her eyes widened when she saw Roy slowly climb out of bed. "What the hell are you doing Roy! Look at all those wounds you have and how weak you are!"

"I'm capable of getting out of here," Roy said with a smile. "Besides, my strength has returned to me." Roy wrapped his arms around Riza and pulled her close.

"Damn…You definitely know how to get yourself in dangerous situations."

"I'm good at surviving."

"Yeah…but you nearly _died_, Roy."

"I'm alive now."

"You're a mess also…"

"Did I hear that you had to team up with the homunculi?"

"Yes. There-"

"You can explain it to me later. I have more important matters that I would like to discuss with you." Riza felt Roy's arm pull her tighter, her gaze was met by his. When she stared into his chocolate eyes, she wanted to cry because of how many cuts he had on him.

"I can't believe my uncle did all this…" Roy smirked and Riza felt her body start to go limp.

"I'd say Raven has done quite a bit of stuff. However, he is dead now, right?"

"Yes."

"Then we shouldn't worry about him. As for you…There's something I've wanted to do and tell you for years."

"I'm listening…"

"Thank you. Thank you for being here for me and standing by my side up to this point and protecting me. I couldn't ask for a better bodyguard, especially one that came to save me. I couldn't ask for a better Lieutenant either."

"Right…I'm happy to be your Lieutenant." Riza felt a tear fall and Roy raised his eyebrow. He moved his finger to brush it away.

"Why the crying, I am alive?"

"It's nothing…I'm…happy. I'm happy that you're okay."

"Well I wasn't done with what I was saying just now. I couldn't leave it at Lieutenant. You are my most valued and important woman in my life. You always have been and since the day I've met you there has been at least one thing I've wanted to do."

"What?" Roy moved his hands to her upper back and pressed his lips against hers. At first she was shocked but then she closed her eyes and kissed him back. A fiery wave of passion flowed throughout her body, he was finally kissing her, it was something that only happened in dreams and here it was reality. She wondered if perhaps this was all just a dream or if it was really happening, the events all seemed too real for them to have just been a part of a dream. Roy kissed Riza with the most love and passion that he could give to her and she kissed back with equal intensity. Roy brought his lips from hers and looked into Riza's eyes once more. Her eyes were shaking, begging for Roy not to stop what he was doing. Her body was trembling with excitement and the pure pleasure that had shot through every limb of her body, if she could melt onto the floor then she would have. Tears began to flow from her eyes as she buried her head into Roy's chest, she didn't know what to think, was this his way of saying that he felt the same toward her. Roy softly kissed Riza's forehead and held Riza tighter.

"I love you, Riza. I always have and I always will. I want you by my side not as a bodyguard, not as a lieutenant, but as my wife. I want you with me forever until the day comes that we must say goodbye to this world and depart into worlds unknown where we will be together for eternity." Riza's eyes widened, was this Roy's way of proposing to her? For a moment everything froze in time as Roy gazed deeply into her eyes.

"Roy…Without even knowing my feelings for you, you would ask such a thing?"

"I'm positive about how you feel. I am also positive about how I feel for you. There can be no other woman for me, I love you and I'll always love you."

"Then…I will be your wife!" Riza smiled through her tears of joy and brought her lips to meet Roy's lips. How long she had wanted to do that, she had craved Roy's lips on hers and his arms around her. Now she knew how he felt and she was sure this was no dream.

"They do this with a room full of people?" Ed asked with narrow eyes. All eyes were on them, Bradley and Juliet had left some time ago, though Roy would have to find them later and thank them for their help. Roy and Riza released each other and Riza turned to the two Armstrong siblings.

"Thank you, if it wasn't for you two finding Roy then I don't know what would have happened," Riza said with a smile.

"It really was my brother's prodding that got me to go," Olivia stated as she crossed her arms.

"I didn't do a thing," Alex said to his sister. "All I did was cough and say that it would be good if we could do something! Then you started thinking of all these theories and where they could be…You dragged a sick man along with you to save Roy."

"I did nothing…"

"You're too proud to admit it." Everyone in the room chuckled and Roy looked around.

"Where did Pride and Sloth go?" Roy asked as he crossed his arms. "I need to thank them…What about Lust and Envy, or Wrath?"

"Roy…Envy was a traitor," Riza said as she crossed her arms. "I think Lust killed him. Lust…died, possibly against Raven and you should know that Wrath never helped us. He died long before…"

"I see…" Roy looked at Scar and sighed. "Either you helped them, or you're here to kill me, one or the other. I'm going to assume you helped them…"

"He did help out. A lot of us did, in fact, Brenda Leona helped," Riza said with a smile. "Pride and Sloth are human because of her."

"I see…What has become of Salacia?"

"She…died…"

"So Salacia has perished, was it by Brenda's hand?" Riza slowly shook her head.

"Raven killed her."

"Damn…Did Brenda get a chance to talk to her before anything happened at all?"

"Yes, in fact they were happy to see each other."

"That is good." Before Riza could say anything else, Roy turned to the Armstrong siblings and smiled. "I want to thank you for getting me out from where I was. Though, I question this, what happened to Kimblee?"

"I cut off his arm and leg," Olivia said dryly. She pointed over to Alex and sighed. "Then he was throwing up in the car and ran over the bastard."

"Ouch, that sounds a bit…painful."

"Yeah, I think it was rather painful for Kimblee."

"What happened to Frank Archer?"

"Lust killed him by sending a spike through his heart," Scar said quickly. "I am not sure what happened to Envy though."

"Yeah, Envy betrayed us and then fought against Pride and Lust," Riza said quietly. Roy nodded and looked over at Scar as Scar lifted his arm.

"Your tattoo is gone," Roy stated as he raised his eyebrow.

"It transmuted off of my arm by Brenda. She released all the souls trapped in there and created the philosopher's stone. She used that to turn Sloth into a human."

"Yeah, and Salacia transmuted Raven's black hole thing I guess," Riza said as she crossed her arms. "That means she created a philosopher's stone in which Brenda used to turn Pride into a human."

"Well, that is very good then," Roy said quietly. Riza took the paper that had been in his hand and signed her name on one of the signature slots. "Why did you just do that?"

"I'm going to be your wife and I want to be your partner when we adopt Edward into the family."

"This way Ed doesn't have to go work in some hard labor place…"

"I'm confused about one thing, Salacia fought against Raven and freed you…why?"

"Salacia was never entirely evil, she had some good inside that heart of hers and as I talked to her I was able to get her to turn around and realize what she was doing was wrong." Roy crossed his arms and let out a sigh, "I'm guessing since Brenda turned Sloth and Pride into a human that means she believes there is goodness in her heart. It's just like her to never overlook the goodness that is inside one's heart."

"You're like that as well," Riza said softly.

"Well, Brenda is one of my closest friends as well as a great mentor. We pretty much trained with each other all the time. In fact, I have a sword that's hidden in my room that I got a long time ago. We always train with each other and we have since we were really young, one day I may surpass her in strength." All heads drooped sadly and Roy looked around. "What's wrong, and Scar, did she see goodness inside of you? Since you're alive after all, she and I believe there was some goodness inside."

"She saw it," Scar stated sadly. "Speaking of Brenda..."

"I see, I'll have to thank her then."

"Roy there's something that must be said…" Roy looked to Riza and raised his eyebrow. This was the first time he noticed that Riza had a sword scabbard on her hip. She took the scabbard off and Roy felt his heart sink as he noticed a very familiar marking on the sword. "Your promise to Brenda…" Roy's hands trembled as he took the sword from Riza's hands and held it in his. He knew full well what this meant.

"T-This is…" Roy stared down at the sword and recalled an old memory.

* * *

Chapter done, next up, soon 


	18. The Promise and Memory

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I really don't. If I did then I can tell you this, I'd know how it would end and I'd have completed the entire story by now.

A/N: Starts with a flashback

* * *

Chapter 18 (The Promise and Brenda's memory)

-_Flashback-_

"Roy, you're late again!" Brenda exclaimed. "Why the hell are you always late!" Roy dodged Brenda's sword as she slashed once at him. She cut through a tree before sheathing her sword.

"Sorry, I got caught up talking to Riza," Roy said as he panted.

"Damn…It's okay…So are you ready?"

"Yes." Brenda smiled and tossed Roy a sword. "I would use the sword we found a while ago…" Brenda pointed to the scabbard on her hip that held a second sword. "However since it cuts through anything, I don't want to ruin my other swords. You had to lose the one I gave you…idiot…you can't even keep a sword for five seconds, can you!"

"Sorry if I don't have your obsession with swords." Roy quickly brought the sword up to block Brenda's sword. "I wasn't exactly ready!"

"I know…That's the trick and you know it well. That's why you always have your guard up."

"Hell, you try that every time we start our whole swordfight and stuff."

"Well then you're learning well." Roy dodged another slice and slashed at Brenda with his sword. She leapt back and thrust her sword forward only to have it knocked out of the way by Roy's sword.

"It's not easy to slice you!"

"It's not easy to get you either, I admire that."

"Thank you, I've had a lot of practice!" Roy shielded another blow with his sword.

"Yes you have!" The two continued their swordfight for the next five hours before taking a break. Brenda pulled two water bottles from her bag and tossed one to Roy. He caught the bottle and took a drink from it.

"That was good training this time around, Brenda."

"Yes, how long has it been since we first started playing with swords?"

"Heh, we started out with sticks when we were four…" Roy smiled and looked up into the sky. "Well, you were a little older than that."

"Three years older, and I was only six that means you were three…"

"Right. I don't remember meeting you very well."

"Not many people can remember that far back, Roy." Brenda took a drink from her bottle and sat on the ground next to Roy. "Now I'm eighteen and you're fifteen, so we've been training for about twelve years together and I would say that when it comes to our skill…we're about even."

"I'll make sure we always are. Besides, I _can_ keep a sword. I'll make sure to place one in my bedroom above my wall and I'll train in secluded areas."

"Right…Train where nobody sees you, it's probably the best thing. You don't want to have people get in your way or you may slice them accidently."

"True, I don't want to hurt anybody that doesn't need to be hurt. I'll always be sure to come to your home or school or whatever you call that place and practice some with you. All so I can stay even with you until the day comes that I surpass you."

"It's my school but I also live there, Roy. Therefore it's my home, as for surpassing me, good luck. You may do it one day though, of course you may already have…You didn't strike your sister's face with a sword…" Roy looked down as Brenda took her other, better, sword out of her sheath and looked at it.

"Maybe you'll see her again, Brenda…"

"I hope to establish peace with her…If I have to strike out against her, I want it to be for justice. I don't want to ever strike out against her unless it is absolutely necessary. If ever my soul changes and I feel like I must fight out of revenge and hatred…of course only Raven might cause me to do such a dreadful thing…If it happens then I will die. Roy grip the sword's scabbard." Brenda held the sword out in a vertical position and Roy gripped the blade above Brenda's hand. "Let us make a promise right here and now."

"Okay."

"You say you want to go into the military, perhaps to become the Fuhrer and make this world a safer and better place. If you fail in that journey or if you die then I will finish that goal for you!"

"You want to teach the next generation and so forth in order to raise them up properly, that is without hatred. If you fail then I will take your place."

"So it's a promise, if either of us should stray from the path then the other will continue that person's road. For our goal is a common one, that is, to teach others to grow without hatred and revenge. If the other turns tail and becomes negative, then it is the job of the other…to cut them down."

"I hope that it doesn't come to that though." Roy released his hand as Brenda pulled her scabbard away.

"If it does, then you'll know what to do. I will have it in my wish that this sword gets transported to you. If something happens to me, then only you will be allowed to use this sword, you and no other."

"I understand, but you're talking so morbidly."

"I speak with reality…One day it may come down to exactly the moment we are talking about. One of us is bound to lose their life and when that happens, the other will surpass that person."

"You know, if you're not in the military, you can't become Fuhrer…"

"I would think of some way to do that actually. I probably could also, if I tried."

"Yeah, if you tried." Roy emptied the final contents of the water bottle into his mouth and let out a sigh as he lay on the grass. "It really is a nice night out."

"Yeah, every star in the sky shines brightly."

"I always have loved coming into the depths of this forest and staring out at the stars…haven't you?"

"Yeah, I have…Of course the stars don't mean a lot to me now." Roy looked over at Brenda and saw a tear escape her eye. His face softened as well, he knew what Brenda was thinking. Brenda crossed her arms and sighed.

"You only think you know what I'm thinking."

"You're thinking about Salacia, aren't you?"

"Yeah…I'm thinking about how I couldn't help her…Even though everything I trained for was about to come to a close! I don't really know what to continue training for anymore…"

"We were talking about it earlier…"

"I know, but the biggest thing I strived for is what I lost and it's all because of Raven contaminating her mind."

"Don't get angry Brenda. If you get angry then I'll have to calm you down…Remember what you and I always believe about anger, it only causes hatred."

"I know, but it's so easy to be angry and hate the one thing that took everything from you…"

"Everything is not gone…You still have me!"

"Yeah, I suppose so. Anyway, how are things going for you and Riza? Have you asked her out yet?"

"Maybe…" Brenda's eyes narrowed as she stared at Roy.

"You haven't even told her that you are even remotely attracted to her…you idiot!"

"What?"

"You don't know the female mind…that much is apparent."

"How could I not know the female mind? I live in a house with a female and my closest friend is a female."

"Yet you don't have the slightest clue about women and if you did, you would be a hell of a lot better off."

"What do you know about women?" Brenda's eye twitched and she hit Roy in the head.

"I _am_ a woman!"

"Sorry…sometimes it just doesn't seem that way…"

"You're really an idiot…Though you're probably smarter than I am."

"What makes you say that?"

"You didn't ever perform a human transmutation on somebody. I took my only other kind sister and performed that transmutation on her…"

"Oh…"

"I love how the moon shines tonight. It's always best around this hour." Brenda stared at the full moon with a smile on her face as Roy nodded his head and gazed at it.

"Yeah…We should come out here and train every night for a few hours."

"Yeah…Do you have your pocketknife on you?"

"Yeah, why, do you need it?" Roy took his pocketknife out of his pocket and handed it to Brenda.

"I'm going to carve something in this scabbard." Roy watched as Brenda carved half of a large moon on the scabbard and underneath it she drew an outstretched hand.

"Why did you do that?"

"For the day that will inevitably come…This is a symbol of our friendship and our promise, but it's only half complete. When the day comes that one of us passes on somehow, or you receive this sword, then the other half must be completed."

"Did I not say to stop talking like that?"

"I've had a thought…I will never fight Raven for my sister, it would merely be out of revenge and hatred would sweep my emotions. The one to defeat Raven will be his own niece…One who does not know much about his cruelty and one who he has not affected entirely."

"What makes you so sure that I have been affected?"

"You cared for Salacia as much as I did."

"Yeah…" Roy put the pocketknife back in his pocket and took the sword in his hand to look at the moon and hand on the scabbard. "If that day ever comes then I will complete the drawing…"

"Again, you do realize the only way you'll ever have to hold this sword in your hands and complete that symbol is if I die…" Brenda took the scabbard and placed it on her hip. "I'll see you tomorrow, and you better not be late or else you're going to be the first of us to die!" Roy chuckled as he and Brenda stood up and shook each others hand.

"With all due respect Brenda, I certainly do not desire to outlive you until I am old. So let's try to stay alive and protect the ones we care about until the day that we grow old and wither away."

"Same here, Roy…It's a deal, never forget our promise and I will try to stay alive until old age starts to nip at me." Roy and Brenda smirked at each other and with that they turned to return home.

-_End Flashback-_

Roy's hands continued to shake as he stared down upon the crescent moon and the hand on the scabbard. He couldn't believe that Brenda had died, she was really gone. Roy let out a sigh and his hands stopped shaking, all eyes were on him as he reached in his pocket. "I told you to stay alive, didn't I?" Roy asked quietly. "Stay alive and keep protecting others, keep striving for that same goal that I strived for. Stay alive until we grow old…That was what we said for the other to do. You weren't supposed to die, you weren't supposed to turn to revenge…" Roy pulled out his pocketknife and everyone watched with wide eyes as he carved the second half of the moon and a hand connecting to the other. A sign of passage, a sign of the sword shifting to the other person. As Roy carved the symbol into the scabbard he tried to hold his hand as steady as possible. "You are my second close friend to lose their life…do I blame myself again? You tempt me to do a human transmutation, but I'll lose my way if I do that…You idiot…you weren't supposed to go before me."

Riza watched Roy with a sad look in her eyes, "Roy…"

"She was never going to fight Raven, those were her words," Roy said quietly. "She said that if she were to fight him then she would be overcome by hatred and revenge. She would fight until she managed to see her sister come around…How did it happen? How did she die?"

"Salacia fought against Raven and we found her dying…Brenda ran over to Salacia and sat with her until her passing. Then she turned Pride into a human and handed me the sword, telling me no one should use it until it's in your hands. She told us to leave and we did, we heard an explosion of fire and I believe she burnt herself."

"Damn…"

"Why did you carve that symbol in?"

"To complete my end of the promise. When one of us outlives the other…The rest must be carved into the scabbard. Riza, I can say this…I'm going to make sure you never die." Roy looked over to General Grumman and sighed.

"General Grumman, with this…I must leave the military. It is my job to continue teaching others to grow up without the use of hate and to train them in the path of sword and flame."

"What about the Fuhrer then?" Grumman asked. "I mean…Bradley's not the Fuhrer anymore…"

"Who are the candidates?"

"You, General Armstrong and a few others…"

"I would recommend General Armstrong." Olivia crossed her arms and huffed. Roy chuckled slightly, "Put it through to the Council. Besides, I can't allow Brenda's sword to be forgotten and collect dust on it. It will be put through the greatest use if I were to use it and continue training others."

"Well you'll make a lot of money, but I think you'd be a better Fuhrer," Olivia stated simply. Roy sighed as he placed the scabbard around his waist. "Isn't it possible for you to do both?"

"Yeah, think about it Roy," Ed said from his bed. "That sword should mean something…It would do her honor for you to continue her dream but she would want you to continue yours as well."

"It was said that if I died she would take my place, if she died I would take her place."

"Her sword is still part of her soul," Riza said quietly. "There's still a part of her left with you, you should continue her dream but also consider that in a way she is continuing your dream. You just carved two hands together, joining with each other, so she's joined you in spirit just as you have. So if she's joined you then allow her sword to follow her dream, meaning you should take her place. Yet also allow her to take your place and how is a sword going to make it to the Fuhrer's level anyway?" Riza let out a small smirk as Roy chuckled softly.

"The council has already approved you if you desire to be Fuhrer," Grumman said quietly. Roy crossed his arms and smirked.

"Fine, but the Fuhrer's sword will be different. Instead Brenda's sword will be the Fuhrer's sword. I want you all to remember this well, tell this to the council, this sword must never stop being used for good purposes. Always give it to a Fuhrer or someone of noble breed, never let it be used for hate or you contaminate Brenda's soul. This is a part of her, it should never be used for murder or hate or even revenge…only for the good of man. Do not even use it to threaten another soul. As long as this sword is handed down to those with good hearts and does not become corrupt, then you honor Brenda's memory."

"I will make sure the council hears this, so does that mean you accept the title of Fuhrer?"

"Yes, I will gladly accept the rank of Fuhrer. I will also be opening Brenda's school."

"I could assist you if you wanted," Scar said with a shrug. "I have nothing else to do."

"No…You once gave in to the bitter hatred that coursed through your veins. Even if you are righteous now, you have still murdered using hate and revenge. Your soul was corrupted, I cannot allow Brenda's memory to be held like that. Once a soul knows hatred, they always know hate. Even if they become righteous afterwards, they are still easily susceptible to hate and revenge."

"You need an assistant though, don't you?" Olivia asked.

"No. I must carry Brenda's memory and Riza will carry it with me as my partner and the love of my life. Anyway, let's find Bradley and Juliet, I must thank them for their involvement. I also thank you Scar for your help."

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That's the chapter, hope you enjoyed it, next will be up soon. 


	19. Final Goodbye

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I really don't. If I did then I can tell you this, I'd know how it would end and I'd have completed the entire story by now.

* * *

Chapter 19 (The final Goodbye)

The next few days consisted of paperwork upon paperwork. Roy had to sign a lot of things and make sure everything was done right. He was the new Fuhrer and finally married Riza, now they had to get everything moved into their new home, Brenda's old house. Roy sat in his new office and sighed as he held his sword in front of him, he was supposed to give a speech at Brenda's funeral as well as Salacia's. They found both Brenda and Salacia's bodies together, they had formed a sisterly hug. Roy looked at a note that lay on his desk and frowned.

_Roy,_

_Once you see this you know that I am dead. I have joined my sister in death where for once I can be truly happy again. I know you will take this hard but it is the only way, I told you I would never fight Raven. I have succumbed to hate and desire Raven's death out of revenge. As you and I have spoken about, that is the wrong way to walk. I am no longer fit to carry the sword that I have held for so long. Sadly I confess to you, you will have made a better owner to this sword than I will ever have had. It was not long after our promise was made that night that I grew depressed over my sister's change and what Raven had done that I began to crave Raven's death. You have surpassed my heart with your own several years ago, you will make a good teacher to my students and I hope you will decide to become Fuhrer. I send to you my best wishes and good luck in the future, never stray from your path and see to it that all your students are raised with kindness in their hearts. It is with this that I depart from this world into the next, when you find this, it will be beside my body. I will destroy myself with my own alchemy. Remember this, keep Scar in line, he is still susceptible to his anger and hatred. I have warned him that if he is to strike another State Alchemist that justice would be dealt to him. Therefore if he strikes another, then you have permission to use my sword and pierce the blade through his heart. Goodbye Roy Mustang, you were a good friend. Oh, and have some pie, it really helps to calm the nerves down._

_Brenda Leona_

Roy chuckled at the last sentence, she always tried to throw some humor into a situation like that. "Brenda, I have managed to become Fuhrer…I am glad you can be happy now, I will try to cherish your memory." Roy looked over as the door opened.

"Fuhrer sir, there's been a murder," An officer stated.

"Okay…I'll investigate it."

----------------

Scar sulked as he leaned against the wall, he cursed himself as he looked into the sky. He had just left a fight that he started, to top it off it was with a state alchemist. "I have murdered another…It seems…once a killer always a killer," Scar said quietly. "What the hell have I done…" Scar looked into the alley and spotted the dead alchemist lying in the streets.

"You've opted not to run, Scar?" Scar looked over and saw Roy walking down the street with Riza and his other subordinates. "A serial killer will usually try and flee the scene."

"I decided to stay and accept my punishment."

"What do you suggest is your punishment?"

"Death…Brenda had warned me that death is what I would get if I continued to kill."

"You helped to save me, I would not feel comfortable with killing you."

"So what will you do, if you do not kill me…"

"Let me put it you this way Scar…" Roy took a folder from his jacket and handed it to Scar.

"What is it?"

"Read it." Scar opened and found a document.

"This thing states that I am…"

"You are to leave the country of Amestris and its surrounding countries and you are not to return. Since state alchemists are only present in Amestris and the surrounding countries, if you are out then you are gone. However if you do return and I find you killing state alchemists, then I will make good on Brenda's warning. Does that sound fair to you?"

"Yes…Thank you…"

"You are hereby ordered to leave immediately." Scar nodded and walked away. 

"Do you think that was the right choice?" Riza asked. Roy looked to Riza and smirked.

"Even Scar has some good inside of him, I believe he can be trusted to do as the document states. He'll stay away at least until he can stop murdering state alchemists."

-----------------------

"This house is awesome," Ed said with a smile.

"Yes, you've said that quite a bit now, Fullmetal," Roy said as he sat in a chair. He looked up to see Riza walk in with a large cake in her hands. "Where did you get that?"

"It was on a kitchen counter with a note next to it that was addressed to you…"

"Oh…" Roy stood up and looked at the cake, his eyes widened when he looked at it. 

_Good luck Roy, enjoy the house and live a long, fulfilling life._

"She also wrote that on the cake I suppose," Riza said quietly. Roy crossed his arms and sighed. 

"Great, so those are really her last words to me...Put the cake on the counter. She obviously made it for us, we'll eat it later…"

"Do you feel alright, Roy?"

"Yeah I'm fine…" 

"Okay, well I'm just making sure. I don't want you to be as upset as you were when Maes died."

"I'm not…Although when Maes died he was a very close friend…I knew Brenda for longer so it would normally be harder. I even have to give a speech her funeral."

"You don't have to if you don't want to…I can or at least Havoc can."

"No…I have to do it, Havoc never knew her and you knew her very briefly."

"Yeah, you knew her the best out of anybody. I think you'll do just fine up there Roy." Roy nodded and looked out the window and Riza just looked back at him. "It's okay to cry."

"Why would I do that?"

"She was one of your closest friends, if you desire to cry then you should be allowed that opportunity. If anything, for her memory."

"There is nothing I can do about it, so crying won't help." Roy picked up his jacket and put it on. "Let's go, we need to get to the funeral."

-----------------

"Come on, we don't want to be late, sir," Juliet said quietly as she rolled her eyebrows. 

"I'm not in the military anymore, Juliet," Bradley said as he crossed his arms. "You don't need to refer to me as sir. Though I am thankful that you're still with me."

"It's only temporary…I mean, we'll have to go our separate was…" Bradley frowned and put his hands on Juliet's shoulders.

"Why would you say that?"

"I'm not your secretary anymore…There's nothing left I can do for your life. I want to stay by your side but…"

"Then stay." Juliet raised her eyebrow and Bradley quickly hugged her. "I don't want you to leave, I love you and I always have. I've loved you when we were homunculi and I love you right now. I never want you to leave my side Juliet."

"What are you saying, s-Bradley?" Bradley chuckled at how she nearly slipped up.

"I'm saying that I want you by my side forever. I don't want you to leave…I'm suggesting…" Bradley took Juliet's hand and lifted it with a smile on his face. "Perhaps a diamond ring on this finger and some little feet running about would be really nice."

"Are you proposing to me, sir?"

"Yes Colonel Douglas, I am asking you to marry me."

"Of course I will."

"Ah, how romantic," A voice said with a chuckle. Bradley and Juliet looked over to see Greed standing with his arms crossed. "Hello, remember me? I'm not dead!"

"What are you doing here, Greed?" Bradley drew his sword and Juliet prepared for a fight.

"Pride…Sloth…you're…human?"

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" Juliet asked with a low growl. "We kind of have somewhere to be right now."

"I'm sorry, it seems I've interrupted that as well." Greed sighed and looked around as if looking for something. "It seems all of the other homunculi are dead…So I'm the last surviving one. Hey Pride, what happened to your eye patch? And dearest Sloth, you don't have water powers anymore do you?" 

"I have no need for a patch anymore since I have two eyes," Bradley said quickly.

"You say I have no powers?" Juliet asked with a chuckle. "Fine by me…" Juliet clasped her hands together and sent several water spikes shooting toward Greed.

"Crap!" Greed exclaimed as he jumped back and narrowly getting hit by the water. He didn't see Bradley charging toward him and slicing him with a sword. "Damn you…I'll kill you!" Greed charged toward Bradley and punched him in the abdomen. 

"Not a bad hit, it doesn't feel too bad actually getting hit as a human," Bradley said with a chuckle.

"Bradley, don't persuade him to hit you even more!" Juliet said as she clasped her hands together. Greed looked back as water started to flow into his mouth. "I see we've taken you by surprise Greed. Unfortunately you are not supposed to be alive."

"Though we figured you were still alive," Bradley said with a chuckle. "That's why we're in your old hideout in Devils Nest. You see, we've prepared for you."

"Damn you!" Greed exclaimed. Bradley slashed Greed several times with his sword and stabbed greed in the chest as Juliet sent numerous spikes through Greed. Greed held his abdomen and stepped back, he looked down to see a large transmutation circle. "What the hell…"

"Okay Juliet, lets seal this homunculus!" Bradley said quickly. He leapt away from the circle as Juliet clasped her hands together and put them on the circle.

"Enjoy life underground, Greed," Juliet said sharply. Greed screamed as a glow emanated from the circle and he sunk under the building.

"Damn you Pride, Damn you Sloth!" Greed shouted as he was buried underground. Bradley smiled as he helped Juliet to her feet.

"We do make one hell of a team, Juliet," Pride said with a smirk.

"Thank you, Bradley." 

"I love you." Bradley pulled Juliet closer to his body and embraced her sweet lips. Juliet felt a warmth flowing through her body, a warmth that had been absent for years and she loved it. She wrapped her arms around Bradley's neck and kissed back with added intensity. When they finished the kiss Juliet stared into Bradley's eyes.

"I love you too…we better go before we're late though."

"I agree."

--------------

"I'm not late this time, Brenda," Roy said as he stood in front of the tombstone. "The funeral doesn't start for another thirty minutes. I thought I'd stop by before we started." There was a large six foot deep hole waiting to embrace Brenda's coffin, and Salacia's plot had been reopened so they could give her a proper funeral. "I promise I will not mention Salacia murdering her family." Nobody but Roy stood in the grave, everybody else was still inside and getting ready to start. "My best friend for twenty seven years…then those three years I never knew you. You were like a sister to me, Salacia as well." Roy looked up into the sky as a single tear rolled down his face. "Crap…it's raining again." Roy pulled out the sword and glanced at it. "A part of you is still with me…I should leave something with you, something to be buried with you." Roy had to admit, something seemed different about the sword, Ed had been looking at it once before and accidently hit his arm against the blade yet did not shed a drop of blood. However Roy was sure the sword was sharp and could still pierce anything. In fact, he had hit a tree with it and it cut just fine. "Brenda…is your spirit still inside of this sword? Do you still seek to punish those guilty of their sins through this sword?" Roy looked over at the building and saw people starting to come out. "It's time…" Roy sheathed his sword and walked up onto the stage as everyone sat in their seats.

"Okay, thank you for coming here today," Roy said quietly. "We are here to honor the passing of two sisters that had been separated in life and finally met up with each other in death. Allow me to first start with Salacia Leona. She was a sweet girl and often misunderstood, she grew up in a bad family and one day her family passed on…She thought her eldest sister, Brenda had died and she was taken away by the criminal known as Raven. Please bow your heads as this sweet woman is buried and cherished." Roy placed his sword in the ground and bowed his head along with everyone else.

"What would it have been like if you hadn't done it, Salacia?" Roy thought as his body trembled with sorrow and anguish. He made sure not to let any tears fall from his eyes as he lifted his head up.

"Brenda Leona, a good friend and a noble person. She and I would always spend countless days training throughout our years together. She lost Salacia to Raven and grew saddened. She still did what she loved, and that was taking care of her friends and training people to grow with strong and compassionate hearts. She and Salacia Leona met up with each other finally a few days ago during a battle with Raven. Both perished in battle of course. Brenda will always be remembered best through her actions toward others and the love she possessed for all things. I will take up her sword and I shall continue her path. Please…Bow your heads in honor and respect for Brenda." 

This time he let the tears escape his eyes as he bowed his head. His body trembled as the caskets were lowered into their respective graves. Roy knew that as long as he lived, he would be sure to cherish the sword and honor Brenda's memory. The sword had become a symbol to Brenda's soul and it would forever be.

* * *

The epilogue will be up next. It's also a note to a possible sequel, but I notice I'm getting no more thoughts on this, it'd be good to hear your thoughts on this story.


	20. Calida

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I really don't. If I did then I can tell you this, I'd know how it would end and I'd have completed the entire story by now.

A/N: This is the epilogue This epilogue was rewritten on August 1st, 2008

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Chapter 20 (Calida)

A young woman stood in front of a tombstone, her arms were crossed and her blond hair flowed slightly past her shoulders. She wore a scabbard with a sword on her hip; it ran slightly past her knees. Her face was stern as she read the name on the grave; it was Brenda Leona's grave. "So, it's been sixteen years, has it?" The woman was always intrigued by Brenda. The stories behind her were always mysterious.

"Hey Calida, are you done yet!" A voice from behind exclaimed. Calida continued to stare at the stone until she was drenched with water. Calida twitched and looked back at the person; she narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "Well, you were taking so long; I couldn't help but soak you in water."

"Do you want me to burn you, Caldor?" Calida asked in a flat tone of voice. Caldor chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head, he knew he didn't want Calida to cause him any damage. Of course, he had just drenched her in water, she wouldn't be able to use flame alchemy.

"Sorry about that, but I was getting bored." Calida rolled her eyes and smirked, he was always like this. It was almost cute to her, but at the same time it annoyed her that he got impatient easily. "You know what, Calida? I'm a bit jealous, I only have one alchemy trait and you can do all five elements." Calida raised her eyebrow and slowly shook her head, her best alchemy was fire.

"There are only _four_ elements, Caldor." Calida lifted her hand up and smirked as she snapped her fingers, sending a burst of flame into the air. "Fire, that's my favorite element." Caldor stepped back and nodded, it was also the element she perfected. She could actually turn the flames blue, that was a true master of flame. "Then there is water." Calida snapped her fingers and water spurt from the ground. "That's my second favorite element actually, it's nice…" Calida snapped her fingers and the blades of grass on the ground grew up to knee length.

"Nice, you may want to shrink that grass now." Calida nodded and snapped her fingers, causing the grass to go back to normal. She snapped her fingers once more and Caldor felt a breeze hit his face.

"Ground and air are the other two elements. The other special element that I have is what my grandmother, Angeline had. It is not an element, but it is light alchemy." Calida clasped her hands together and a bright circle appeared on the ground, white light poured from it. Calida let out a sigh and shook her head. "As you know, my best element is fire, and that's because I practiced that one all the time. All my other alchemy traits suck."

"Nonsense, I think you're very good with your alchemy, every one of them." Calida raised her eyebrow and smirked; she crossed her arms and stared at Caldor.

"I can only blow things around with air, which pretty much sucks. I can only make small blades of grass shoot from the ground, and the water, I hate it. With water, I can only make people a little wet." Caldor chuckled lightly and crossed his arms, Calida raised her eyebrow and narrowed her eyes. "What is so funny, Caldor?"

"Well you're right, only your flame is offensive; all the others are pretty weak. The question is, does this make you weak? I think it just might." Calida narrowed her eyes more and Caldor laughed lightly. "I might want to run now, right?" Calida nodded and Caldor took off, Calida chased after him and shouted for him to stop running. He listened to her and she ran right into him, both screamed out and fell to the ground, they rolled slightly and came to a stop. Caldor was positioned above Calida and gazing into her eyes, she gazed back and felt her heart start to pound. She blushed lightly and placed her hands on Caldor's chest.

"Get off, Caldor." Calida smiled and Caldor quickly got off her, he extended his hand to help her to her feet, she grabbed his hand and he pulled her up. "Thanks." Caldor held onto her hand for a second longer than usual, causing her to blush once more. He let go and she turned around. "That uh…that never happened, right?" Caldor shrugged and Calida dusted herself off. "Anyway, the light hole that I use, I don't know what it does. I think it's supposed to counter some sort of shadow alchemy, and I think light alchemy was the counter for Raven Hawkeye." Calida rubbed her chin and started to drift off into deep thought, she started to walk off and Caldor glanced to the side.

"Hey, I think we need to get to the Mustang's…Calida, are you listening to me?" Caldor watched as she walked off, she was too deep in thought to even hear him. "She's not listening, is she? I could probably raise the dead and she wouldn't care…" Calida stopped walking and turned around, she saw Caldor standing in place and smirked as she rolled her eyes.

"Hey Caldor, are you coming or not!" Caldor looked over at Calida and smiled, he ran up to her and started to walk with her. They walked until they reached the Mustang residence, it was then that Caldor remembered he had something he had to do at his own home.

"Calida, I almost forgot that I have something important to catch up on, I'll see you later." Calida nodded and watched as Caldor ran off, she let out a sigh and took a breath to let her heartbeat return to normal. She slowly walked back inside and saw Ed inside.

"Hey Calida, you're late, now what would Roy and Riza think of this?" Calida smirked and tilted her head as she took a quick second to think of a comeback.

"They would wonder why their thirty one year old adopted son is freeloading in their home." Calida held her smirk and crossed her arms as Ed rolled his eyes.

"I'm not freeloading, I am only visiting for a few days!" Calida chuckled and slowly shook her head, she had to wonder what Winry would think of this behavior.

"Well then, if that's the case, continue what you were doing, freeloader." Ed's eyebrow twitched as Calida walked into the kitchen, he followed her in and saw her take out some kitchenware and begin to cook.

"So, what's up with you today, Calida?" Calida put some ingredients into a pan and started to spoon it, she glanced up and looked at Ed.

"Nothing really, I was just thinking about that one woman. You know, Brenda Leona." Ed smiled and nodded his head, Brenda had been a good woman when she was alive.

"Good woman, she helped to save Roy and she helped Caldor's parents out quite a bit." Calida nodded, she heard the story of how Brenda made them human several times, and how Caldor's mom was a water alchemist.

"Yeah, I've heard that story before. I was really just thinking of her family, they're always so sound…plus it's so damn annoying. Who would want to hurt the child because she's different? What is the point in all tat mistreatment that Salacia had to go through? Then sixteen years ago, Brenda kills herself after being away from Salacia so long. Why did she kill herself? Could she not have just moved on?" Ed rubbed his chin as Calida started to spoon the ingredients in the pan at a rapid pace. He knew that if she went into another cooking fit, Roy and Riza would have to empty the refrigerator once more. He thought about her question and let out a small sigh.

"It sucks when you lose a sibling, trust me on that." Calida glanced at Ed through the corner of her eyes, she knew he was remembering Al. "Believe me, it's hard when you have to spend so much time without them."

"Yeah…How's Winry by the way? I see that she and your son aren't around right now." Ed nodded and crossed his arms as Calida put more ingredients into another pan, by now there had to be at least five pots on the stove.

"Well, John has been a little sick, I thought you knew that, because of that, Winry couldn't come by."

"Oh yeah, that's right. You know, it's funny how much Javad looks like you when you were twelve. I mean, in the pictures of you, you look like him." Ed nodded his head and Calida looked into the pot at the food she was cooking. "Sometimes, I can't help but think that it would be really nice to meet Alphonse, as well as your real parents. The fact that Caldor's mom happens to look slightly like Tricia Elric isn't what I mean, either." Ed chuckled lightly and smiled at Calida, he crossed his arms over and closed his eyes.

"They were all good people." Calida smiled and continued to stir the food, she loved cooking. Ed raised his eyebrow and let out a small sigh. "How long are you going to stir that pot?" Calida blinked and let out a nervous chuckle.

"Whoops, it is probably whipped by now…"

"Sometimes it seems like you could go through every pot in here." Calida laughed lightly and set the spoon on the counter.

"I guess so. So, where are mom and dad right now?"

"They're out shopping, you were late getting here and they needed to go pick up something else for dinner."

"I see. Well in that case, I'll just have to wait for them. Heh, as far as I'm concerned, they're the ones that are late this time." Calida smirked and Ed laughed, he slowly shook his head and smiled.

"Whatever you say, Calida…" Ed watched as Calida put some of her cooking into the oven, she closed the oven door and stared at it for a moment.

"What's the use of that light alchemy thing, anyway?" Calida brought out some more cake mixture and began working on making another cake. Ed raised his eyebrow and chuckled.

"You don't need to make another one, Calida." Calida blinked and stared at the mixture, she sighed and looked at Ed.

"I've already started on it, though." Ed laughed lightly and then shrugged his shoulders. He tapped his chin, thinking of Calida's question.

"Well, the light alchemy, as you know, could counter Raven's darkness. It has a tendency to light his black hole that he can create."

"I see."

"You know, Roy would like for you to start training the swordfighting students, it's about time for you to start doing that." Calida sighed and shrugged her shoulders, she wasn't sure if she wanted to stay home and train others in swordfighting or not.

"I guess…" Ed raised his eyebrow and tilted his head slightly.

"Would you like to start doing that?"

"Well I'm not really sure. I'm actually considering whether I should enter the military or not, maybe I'll try to be a state alchemist." Her father was the Fuhrer, so it could actually be a bit odd for her to go in the military to begin with.

"If you think it's a good idea, then go ahead. You know that your father is Fuhrer, wouldn't people always bug you about getting special treatment?" Calida shrugged and crossed her arms.

"Hey, I found Caldor hanging around that one place again, what is it called? I think it's the Devil's Nest."

"Yeah, his parents actually sealed up a homunculus there. They sealed it underground several years ago, so it's only natural to be fascinated with something there."

"Yeah, but I thought it was because of his father. I mean, his father died there a couple years ago and I'm not sure how well his mom is doing these days." Juliet seemed depressed quite often, she was always upset and never really excitable anymore.

"Yeah, I can't help but to feel bad about all of that. They tried to hide the fact that at one time they were homunculi, somehow someone found out and shot Bradley near Devil's Nest." Calida frowned and stared downward, she couldn't help but feel sad whenever she thought of the murder that happened. It had always affected Caldor pretty badly.

"The perpetrator was caught, right?" Ed nodded and let out a sigh, the one that killed Bradley had actually been Selim.

"Yes. Who would have thought Selim would do it though, at least he's been executed for it." Calida slowly nodded and glanced over at the door as Roy and Riza entered it.

-NEW SCENE-

Caldor walked toward his house with a small smile on his face, Calida always helped him to smile, since it was hard after seeing his own father murdered years prior. "Calida's always been such a good friend to me, I'm glad to know her. Her name doesn't mean anything violent at all, yet my name means violent water. It's an odd name to give to me, that's for sure."

He always thought it was odd, he had never been violent at all, and surely his name didn't mean what he was. Caldor turned the doorknob and noticed that it was locked, he sighed and crossed his arms. _"I guess I'll have to get the spare key. Mom is probably not going to be home for a couple of hours, I'll have to spend some time alone for a bit."_

Caldor stepped off of the front porch and walked around the house, his thoughts once more drifted to Calida. He figured that he'd always been attracted to her, she was beautiful and had a great personality. There was nothing greater than being with her. Caldor stopped walking and heard what sounded like a twig snapping, he turned around and saw nothing.

_"What was that?"_ Caldor placed his hands in his pocket and glanced to the side, he wasn't above fighting if he had to. "Calida, is that you?"

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain shoot through his chest, something sharp had pierced through him. "Crap!" The object had come from behind, he fell to his knees and started to cough up blood. "N-No, I can't die yet. I have to see Calida again, I haven't told her that I lo-" The sharp object pierced him once more and he fell to the ground, his pupils dilated and blood flowed out from his body. "Calida, I love…" That was it, his soul left his body at that moment.

An hour passed before Juliet arrived, her eyes widened when she saw Caldor's body on the ground. "No, not again, Caldor!" Juliet screamed and ran over to his body, she took his head in her hands and rested it on her lap. "No, please…no! This can't be happening to me, I can't lose my son! I've already lost my husband!" Tears fled her eyes rapidly, she hated losing the ones she loved.

All sense of reasoning fled Juliet as she hugged Caldor's body and rocked with him, she blamed the loss of her happiness on her past. She sobbed and blamed herself, she couldn't stand to lose Caldor. "It's okay, I'll be with you soon. Don't worry, Caldor, tell Calida you love her. Bradley, I'll be with you soon, I have one more thing to do…"

-NEW SCENE-

Calida stood in the crowd next to Riza and Ed, Roy stood on a platform and everyone watched as the pallbearers brought two caskets out and started to place them in the plot. Calida held a stoic expression and watched this monotonous scene, Caldor's casket would go in after Juliet's casket. "Damn it, Caldor," Calida said in a quiet voice. She slowly clenched her fists and felt her mom's hand on her shoulder, she looked up and saw Riza smiling sadly at her. Calida closed her eyes and looked over to see Armstrong, he was crying, as he always did at funerals. It made it harder for Calida, she hated to cry.

"At least they were happy for some time," Ed said quietly as he thought of Juliet and Bradley. Pride and Sloth were now together and their son was with them as well, perhaps now they could be happy together with no more problems at all. Calida's jaw grew firm and she stared at Caldor's grave while Roy finished his speech. Roy walked over to the group and stood with Calida as she stared at the grave, they stood there for some time as people left the cemetery.

"Damn it, who did it? Who the hell did this to you, Caldor?" Roy, Riza, and Ed stood back a slight distance and watched as Calida grew angry but did not shed a tear. "Who killed you!" She was naturally angry at the loss of her best friend, who wouldn't be? Calida closed her eyes and struggled not to let her tears escape her eyes. "I won't be weak, Caldor. Crying is weak, isn't it?" She turned around and started to walk away, knowing she would never see Caldor's face again. Perhaps she would join the military now, she didn't really care if people felt awkward about it or not. She pondered if it really mattered or not, she didn't think she had to go in for any reason.

"Let's go, Calida," Ed said as he reached out to pat Calida's shoulder. He stopped and put his arm to the side, he thought it was best not to do anything because she just growled at him. Instead, Riza walked over and gave Calida a gentle hug, Calida let out a small sob sound and once more tried to stop from crying.

"It's going to be okay," Riza said in a soft voice. "You know, you can cry if you want to, there's nothing wrong with it." Calida frowned and slowly closed her eyes.

"I don't want to cry," Calida said flatly. She wasn't a huge crier, and she believed that aspect came from her father. She hated tears, and always felt that if anyone saw her shed one, they would think she was weak. Roy slowly walked over to Calida and stared at her with a frown.

"Calida, do you want revenge for Caldor's death?" Roy asked in a firm tone. The question was more serious than it sounded, it was a strict rule in the house that nobody could hate anybody else. Killing for revenge was a huge 'no' under their roof.

"No, I believe killing for revenge is wrong." It was true, she hated killing for revenge, and was only angry at the moment. She would calm down later and then try to return to normal. She knew that she needed to keep her anger and rage subdued, since she was the carrier of Brenda's sword. Calida slowly walked in front of everyone and made her way to the car, everyone followed behind and did not see the tears rolling down her cheeks.

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There's the end of the story. As you see, it's open for a possible sequel. I hope you enjoyed it, thank you for reviewing, if you did.


	21. Request

The Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist

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This is an Author Note, a request from the writer to you the fellow reader.

I'm thinking of a sequel to this story, however I only have one person saying they'd like one. For me to write a sequel, I would like at least five people or more saying they would like a sequel for the story. If you want to see a sequel to this story, please let me know. As you see in the epilogue, it's definitely open to a sequel. There are some open ends, such as Calida having used that light alchemy which could bring people out from in that dark hole, we don't know who killed Caldor and there's a possibility of another homonculus. So I need at least five people saying they'd like a sequel, let me know what you think. 


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